Georgia governor Brian Kemp testifies in state election probe into Trump
Criminal probe could be first real effort to punish Trump team for 2020 fraud claims
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Your support makes all the difference.Georgia’s governor testified this week in a grand jury investigation called by state investigators to probe President Donald Trump’s actions after the 2020 election.
Brian Kemp, a Republican who bucked Mr Trump’s efforts to pressure state officials to help him overturn his defeat, recorded testimony remotely which was presented to the grand jury on Monday, according to a local ABC affiliate.
His office was also required to hand over other evidence requested by the grand jury, including "any document that explains what former President Trump was thinking or doing or those working on his behalf” when he pressured Georgia officials to aid in his scheme.
Georgia was just one of several states where Mr Trump’s team attempted to reverse his defeat and nominate a slate of pro-Trump false “electors” who would cast their respective states’ Electoral College votes for Mr Trump on January 6 when the Senate counted the votes. But Mr Trump’s efforts in Georgia were the most well-reported in the days following the 2020 election, and audio of a call Mr Trump made to the state’s top election official asking him to “find” thousands of votes in his favour was supplied to news outlets.
The unprecedented effort by a president to personally pressure election officials to reverse his defeat has so far gone unpunished, but Georgia’s state law enforcement officials could change that fact if their investigation of Mr Trump’s efforts procedes into criminal charges.
The US Justice Department, meanwhile, is conducting its own grand jury investigation into January 6 in Washington DC; the chief of staff to former Vice President Mike Pence testified before that grand jury on Monday.
Mr Kemp earlier this year survived a Trump-backed primary challenge in the form of ex-Senator David Perdue; despite the former president’s endorsement against him, the incumbent Republican governor easily swatted away his rival.
He now faces a challenge from Democratic candidate Stacey Abrams in November.
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