Gov. Kemp to testify into Fulton County grand jury's Trump election probe
FULTON COUNTY, Ga. - Gov. Brian Kemp is scheduled to testify before the Fulton County grand jury investigation into whether former President Donald Trump and others illegally tried to interfere in the 2020 general election in Georgia.
Monday, Kemp is expected to testify by video for the grand jury and give his take about what happened in the wake of the 2020 election.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis began her investigation early last year, and a special grand jury with subpoena power was seated in May at her request. In a letter requesting the special grand jury, she said her team was looking into "any coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections in this state."
Republican gubernatorial candidate Gov. Brian Kemp speaks during his primary night election party at the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall of Fame. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Willis has confirmed that her team is looking into a January 2021 phone call in which Trump pushed Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" the votes needed for him to win the state. She has also said they are looking at a November 2020 phone call between U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and Raffensperger, the abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021, and comments made during December 2020 Georgia legislative committee hearings on the election.
Kemp is the latest high-ranking official to go before the grand jury, joining House Speaker David Ralston, Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, Raffensperger and his deputy Gabe Sterling, and Kemp's reelection communication director Cody Hall.
Other officials have tried to fight their subpoenas, including South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Georgia Congressman Jody Hice.
Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani tried to fight his subpoena, bust last week a New York judge ordered him to appear on Aug. 9.
Thursday, the Fulton County judge overseeing the special grand jury ordered several Georgia Republicans who signed a certificate falsely stating that Donald Trump had won the state in 2020 and that they were the state’s "duly elected and qualified" electors to testify in the investigation.
One of them, state Sen. Burt Jones, is trying to get Willis removed from the grand jury by claiming she has a conflict of interest because she held a fundraiser for his political opponent.
"Find somebody who doesn’t have a dog in the hunt. Fani Willis has a dog in the hunt," Jones' lawyer said, referring to her known support of Jones’s opponent.
While the judge did say he didn't disagree there's an appearance of conflict, he has not made a ruling on whether there was actual conflict.
The special grand jury, which operates behind closed doors, was seated in May at Willis’s request and has the power to subpoena evidence and witnesses. It does not have the power to issue an indictment. Instead, once its investigation is completed, it will issue a report with recommendations. It will then be up to Willis to decide whether to seek an indictment from a regular grand jury.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.