Thank you
Brian Kemp is a right wing Republican whose political views are abhorrent to me. But at least he isn’t a coward. He continues to stand up to the MAGA cult, as do some others in the Georgia GOP:
Gov. Brian Kemp is telling several far-right Georgia lawmakers to lay off the calls to impeach Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
Georgia Sen. Colton Moore has led a charge via a letter to Kemp requesting a special legislative session to impeach Willis after a grand jury handed up an indictment against former President Trump and 18 of his allies in the state and beyond alleging a conspiracy to overturn the 2020 election here in Georgia.
During a news conference Thursday, Kemp said, despite his personal feelings about the investigation, he does not have the authority to call a special session.
“We have a law in the state of Georgia that clearly outlines the legal steps that can be taken if constituents believe their local prosecutors are violating their oath by engaging in unethical or illegal behavior,” Kemp said.
Kemp said, up to now, he has not seen any evidence that warrants any action by the prosecuting attorneys oversight commission.
The governor said not only does he believe calling a special session to remove Willis from the investigation would be unfeasible, but he also said it would likely be unconstitutional.
“As long as I am governor, we’re going to follow the law and the Constitution, regardless of who it helps or harms politically,” Kemp said.
The move comes one day after Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns senta letter to his caucus saying he too was not supportive of the movenor was there any legal precedence for them to impeach her.
The letter states in part, that “we continue to have a few members of the General Assembly making misleading or false claims about the General Assembly’s lawful powers regarding an ongoing criminal case before our Judiciary.”
Burns called it an unfortunate part of modern politics, saying that “theatrics sometimes garner more attention than genuine human needs.”
Additionally, the Speaker said efforts to defund Willis’ office directly would both interfere with the criminal justice system in Georgia at large but have impacts across the state.
“Regardless of your views of this case, removing this funding would also have the unintended consequence of causing a delay or complete lack of prosecution of other serious offenses, like murder, rape, armed robbery, gang prosecution, battery, etc.,” Burns said in part.
Here’s an example of the people Kemp and Burns are responding to:
Georgia is now a swing state and savvy politicians like Kemp understand that. He also hates Trump. That combination has led to a different dynamic than other southern states.