Trump congratulates Georgia on restrictive new voting law Biden called an ‘atrocity’

The president called the legislation an ‘atrocity’ and ‘sick’

Donald Trump congratulated Georgia on a controversial election law it passed strengthening voter ID requirements and banning individuals from receiving water while waiting in line to vote.

"Congratulations to Georgia and the Georgia State Legislature on changing their voter Rules and Regulations," Mr Trump said in a statement through his Save America PAC.

Joe Biden has referred to the voting law as an "atrocity".

In his statement, Mr Trump again repeated fraudulent claims that the 2020 election was stolen from him.

"They learned from the travesty of the 2020 Presidential Election, which can never be allowed to happen again. Too bad these changes could not have been done sooner!" he wrote.

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Mr Biden said the law had nothing to do with voting integrity, and was solely a means to suppress votes.

"If you want any indication that it has nothing to do with fairness, nothing to do with decency, they passed a law saying you can't provide water to people standing in line while they're waiting to vote?" he said.

"You don't need anything else to know that this is nothing but punitive, designed to keep people from voting. You can't provide water for people about to vote. Give me a break."

The president referred to the bill as "Jim Crow of the 21st century," "sick" and "un-American". He said the US Justice Department was "looking at" the legislation.

Georgia state Rep. Park Cannon, a Black woman, was dragged off by police for knocking on Georgia Governor Brian Kemp's door while the bill was being signed into law.

"Anyone who saw that video would have been deeply concerned by the actions that were taken by law enforcement to arrest her when she simply by the video that was provided seemed to be knocking on the door to see if she could watch a bill being signed into law," White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

She also condemned the voting legislation, saying voting should not be made more difficult for Americans.

"It should not be harder, it should be easier to vote,' she said. We should not put limitations in place. People should be able to vote from home, they should be able to use absentee ballots. There should be a range of restrictions that are undone, not put back in place," she said.

The bill's passage has made the call by Democrats for Congress to pass the For The People voting rights act even more urgent.

Vice President Kamala Harris said it was necessary for the bill to make it through Congress.

"I believe very strongly that Congress needs to pass the For The People Act," she said

She said it was all the more pressing due to the "abusive practices that we seen from the Georgia Legislature."