Kemp, Trump Battle Over Tossing Out GA Presidential Electors

GEORGIA — Gov. Brian Kemp has rejected President Donald Trump's request to pressure the Georgia legislature to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory by saying it is illegal to do so.

During a call made Saturday morning, Trump reportedly pressured Kemp to persuade the state legislature to overturn Biden's victory in the state, sources told The Washington Post. He also asked the governor to order an audit of absentee ballot signatures.

Kemp declined the request, the source told The Post. The governor also confirmed the conversation in an afternoon tweet, in which he said he's already called for a signature audit.

On Monday, Kemp and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan issued a statement regarding a call from four Georgia state senators for a special session of the Georgia General Assembly.

"While we understand four members of the Georgia Senate are requesting the convening of a special session of the General Assembly, doing this in order to select a separate slate of presidential electors is not an option that is allowed under state or federal law," the statement read.

"State law is clear: the legislature could only direct an alternative method for choosing presidential electors if the election was not able to be held on the date set by federal law. In the 1960s, the General Assembly decided that Georgia’s presidential electors will be determined by the winner of the state’s popular vote. Any attempt by the legislature to retroactively change that process for the November 3rd election would be unconstitutional and immediately enjoined by the courts, resulting in a long legal dispute and no short-term resolution.

"The judicial system remains the only viable - and quickest - option in disputing the results of the November 3rd election in Georgia," the two Republicans said in their statement.

On Saturday, Trump held a campaign rally in Valdosta that focused on his unproven claims that the Nov. 3 election was rigged, and that massive voter fraud has been committed in Georgia and other states. He has repeatedly called for the governor and top election officials to throw out the state’s results, which gave Biden a victory in Georgia.

A federal judge in Atlanta threw out a lawsuit on Monday that were based on those unproven claims challenging Biden winning Georgia, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reported.

Among the claims from the lawsuit filed by former Trump attorney Sidney Powell’s included "ballot-stuffing, vote-flipping and voting machine tampering, among several other theories about how Trump could have lost in Georgia," the AJC reported.

The paper reported that "attorneys for state election officials said those accusations weren’t backed up by facts."

“They want this court to substitute its judgment for the 2.5 million voters who voted for Biden,” U.S. District Judge Timothy Batten said in court in Atlanta. “This I’m unwilling to do.”

Duncan told “CBS This Morning” on Monday that the “mountains of misinformation” put out by the Trump administration are not helping GOP efforts to re-elect Sen. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, who both have a runoff election on Jan. 5.

Death threats by Trump supporters have been made against Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and other Republican officials, including Duncan.

He said he has added security because of the current situation. “It’s not fun. It’s not American,” Duncan said in the interview.

Two of the CBS anchors pushed Duncan to repudiate Trump and not speaking out against the president’s ongoing attacks against others.

“For five weeks we’ve been working hard to count every single vote in Georgia,” Duncan said as he sidestepped the question.

The president needs to focus on Loeffler and Perdue being re-elected, Duncan added.

The lieutenant governor pushed back on anchor Tony Dokoupil’s question about Trump attack’s, to which the anchor responded that the president has verbally attacked dozens of mayors, members of Congress, the media, and everyday citizens whom he disagrees with at rallies and press conferences.

“GOP 2.0 has got to include a better way to message,” Duncan said. ” I think America as a whole wants leaders that are inspiring, not condescending.”

Duncan wouldn’t say if he regretted voting for Trump.