ATLANTA — Among the 16 Republicans who falsely certified as electors to Donald Trump as the presidential winner in Georgia’s 2020 election, three were indicted by a Fulton County Grand Jury Aug. 14.

In response to a CNHI newspaper, executive director of the the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council, Pete Skandalakis, said the council will now begin the process of finding a conflict prosecutor to review Lt. Gov. Burt Jones’s involvement in the false electors scheme and, if necessary, perform additional investigations.

A copy of the false electors certification document shows that Jones was one of the 16 Republicans who signed the certificate falsely asserting Trump won the state.

However, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis had been disqualified by Fulton County Superior Court Judge Judge Robert McBurney from seeking charges against Jones, a state senator at the time, due to a conflict of interest in her fundraising for Jones’ political opponent.

“I have reached out (Willis) for a copy of the Special Grand Jury Report and any additional information needed on this matter. After discussing the matter with her, we felt it best that I file a petition with Judge McBurney requesting the release of the report to me to assist the conflict prosecutor in how they handle this matter,” Skandalakis said in a statement Aug. 15.

He added that no timeframe was available as to when the proceedings involving Jones would conclude, but that the Council plans to move as quickly as possible.

“I will also add, this case is unprecedented in its scope and nature. Finding a special prosecutor with the resources to handle such a case will not be easy,” Skandalakis said.

Jones,who was elected lieutenant governor in November 2022, issued a statement claiming Willis’s investigation into alleged 2020 election meddling was to “further her media and PR campaign for the sole purpose of furtherance of her own political career.”

“While the Fulton County District Attorney continues to pursue the political vendettas of the past — I have and will continue to look forward, solving the most pressing issues facing our city and state,” Jones said Aug. 15.

Among those charged as fake electors in the Aug. 14 Fulton County indictment are David Shafer, the former Georgia GOP chair; Shawn Still, former Georgia GOP finance committee chair; and Cathleen Latham, former chair of the Coffee County Republican Party.

Each of the three faces more than a handful of charges, but all of them are charged with a Georgia RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) Act violation, which comes with a mandatory prison sentence of five to 20 years in prison.

Despite Democrat President Joe Biden receiving a majority of the state’s vote in in the November 2020 presidential election, the “fake electors” signed a certificate stating they were “the duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of American and from Georgia” after meeting on Dec. 14, 2020.

Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon attempted to justify the actions of the fake electors in a lengthy statement following the Fulton County indictment.

McKoon said Trump and Shafer filed a contest to the presidential election results on Dec. 4, 2020.

“On Dec. 14, 2020, the last day allowed by law to cast electoral votes and 10 days after the election contest was filed, Fulton County judges had failed to schedule a hearing of the election contest,” he said. “So, on the advice of counsel, Chairman Shafer convened a meeting of the electors to cast votes to preserve the president’s contest.”

Shafer’s attorney previously sent a letter to Willis’s office denying any wrongdoing, claiming he and others were following directions from Trump attorneys, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported.

He said that Shafer explicitly stated the purpose of the meeting to the media and the other electors. However, independent journalist George Chidi has publicly stated that when he came across the meeting while covering potential protests at the capitol, he also came across the meeting room and was initially told by one of electors that it was an education meeting.

Chidi was subpoenaed by the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office to testify before the grand jury that decided on the Aug. 14 indictment. However, after hours of waiting to testify Aug. 14, Chidi said he was not called into the grand jury room before the indictment was issued.

He said it was “possible” he had critical information that could have help the grand jury reach its conclusion.

“If there’s any one thing that this moment does, I think it brings the moral and ethical obligations of journalism into sharp focus,” Chidi said after leaving the Fulton County Courthouse Aug. 14. “We have responsibilities, all of us, to tell the truth, to do it without fear or favor. To do it, regardless of threat. To ignore threat.”

McKoon, in his statement Aug. 14, said that the electoral votes taken during the that meeting were only to be counted if Trump prevailed in his pending election contest.

“The casting of these votes is equivalent to when a voter appears at a precinct and their record cannot be found,” he said. “They are issued a provisional ballot, which preserves their right to vote if it is determined that their vote should be counted.”

The false electors are among 19 defendants — including Trump — indicted by the Fulton County grand jury for attempting to subvert Georgia’s 2020 election results. Trump led unfounded claims of widespread election fraud following his defeat to President Joe Biden, and allegedly pressured state officials to overturn his loss.

Kimberly Burroughs Debrow was initially representing 10 of the “fake” Republican electors, however, court filings indicated eight were offered immunity in April.

Seth Kirschenbaum, a former federal prosecutor and a defense lawyer since 1985, said the “electors’” false statement in representing themselves as elected or duly appointed elector supports charges of false statements and fraud.

However, Kirschenbaum said some of the defendants charged in the fake elector scheme may have plausible defenses.

“Some of the fake electors, they may have perhaps been misled by people in the Trump camp about what was the purpose of their exercise was and they may have believed that they were doing something that was only going to be a backup plan in case the Trump team was able to prevail in any of their lawsuits, for instance,” Kirschenbaum said. “I think that some of fake collectors may have defenses I having been misled about what they were really being asked to do.”

Other charged in Georgia’s fake electors scheme include former Trump lawyers Rudolph “Rudy” Giuliani and John Eastman who prosecutors say helped plan the fake electors scheme, and attorney Kenneth Chesebro, who allegedly helped and execute the fake electors scheme.

A total of 19 defendants are listed on the nearly 100 page indictment facing a rang of felony charges stemming from a months-long coordinated conspiracy to overturn the 2020 elections through the spread of false information, harassment, intimidation and fraud.

In 2022, the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol presented documents and testimony that appeared to show Trump affiliates attempted to to overturn the 2020 election by organizing alternate “fake electors” in six other battleground states: Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Willis has announced that defendants will have until Aug. 25 to surrender to authorities.