Georgia shuts down Trump’s attempts to bully governor over election result
Mr Trump called on the governor to overrule the secretary of state to do a match of signatures on ballots and envelopes
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The office of Georgia governor Brian Kemp has shut down Donald Trump after a volley of abuse over the state's election result.
A spokesman for Mr Kemp said Georgia law prohibited the governor from "interfering in elections" after the president asked why the "hapless" governor was not taking action.
"The Secretary of State, who is an elected constitutional officer, has oversight over elections that cannot be overridden by executive order,” Mr Kemp’s communication’s director, Cody Hall, said in a statement to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
"As the governor has said repeatedly, he will continue to follow the law and encourage the Secretary of State to take reasonable steps — including a sample audit of signatures — to restore trust and address serious issues that have been raised.”
In a tweet on Monday morning, Mr Trump called on the governor to overrule the secretary of state to do a match of signatures on ballots and envelopes.
"Why won’t Governor @BrianKempGA, the hapless Governor of Georgia, use his emergency powers, which can be easily done, to overrule his obstinate Secretary of State, and do a match of signatures on envelopes. It will be a “goldmine” of fraud, and we will easily WIN the state...." he said.
"....Also, quickly check the number of envelopes versus the number of ballots. You may just find that there are many more ballots than there are envelopes. So simple, and so easy to do. Georgia Republicans are angry, all Republicans are angry. Get it done!"
Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has said that matching the signature on absentee ballots to the signature on the outer envelopes was near-impossible because the two documents are separated to protect privacy.
It comes a day after the president said he was ashamed to have endorsed Mr Kemp for Governor.
Appearing on Fox News Sunday night, Mr Trump told host Maria Bartiromo that "this character in Georgia" was a disaster, believed to be a reference to Mr Raffensperger - who the president called an "enemy of the people" on Thanksgiving.
“The governor’s done nothing, he’s done absolutely nothing. I’m ashamed I endorsed him," Mr Trump said.
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