ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday said he doesn't believe any trial against Donald Trump in Fulton County, following last week's indictment of the former president, will happen before next year's election.
And the governor implored the Republican Party to not "be focusing on stupid things," framing the Trump case as something Democrats want Republicans preoccupied with instead of campaigning against Joe Biden in 2024.
"One thing is certain about these indictments, in my mind, in my opinion - this trial, despite what dates anybody's asking for anything else, it is not gonna happen before the election," Kemp said, referencing Fulton DA Fani Willis' formal request for a March trial start. "And the Democrats want us to be focused on things like this so we're not focused on Joe Biden's record."
Kemp was speaking at "The Gathering" event, hosted by conservative talk radio host Erick Erickson. His estimate that the trial would not begin next year tracks with what experts have previously told 11Alive.
Melissa Redmon, a University of Georgia Law professor and former Fulton County prosecutor, explained the potential complications of this stage of things to 11Alive last month.
"You'll see the pretrial motions to dismiss, and attorneys stating why the case should be dismissed, so those should be the initial motions and then if the case survives, then motions on what type of evidence is admissible or should be excluded, so then those get litigated," she said. "All that would happen before you actually get to scheduling when the trial would occur."
In his comments Friday, the governor urged the Republican Party to stay focused on the 2024 race, rather than Trump's legal tangles. He stressed the importance of holding the "pencil" and "eraser" of government power - "Right now, Biden's holding the pencil, they're holding the pencil for the regulatory environment, whether it's at the Federal Trade Commission, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), the Justice Department, FBI."
"We have to stay focused on winning the pencil back because then we can use the eraser to get rid of all the bad things," Kemp said. "We don't need to be focusing on stupid things that aren't gonna happen before this election. We can deal with that later, after we win. We have to tell people what we are for, and then we have to have a candidate that can win the election because if we don't win, we don't get to govern, we don't get the pencil."
Kemp continues to implicitly oppose Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination, though he has remained steadfast that he has no interest in a run himself and has said he'd support the former president - currently an overwhelming favorite in the GOP race - if he wins the nomination.
Kemp, a popular governor of a swing state with a 58% approval rating in 11Alive's most recent polling, occupies a somewhat unique place in the Republican party hierarchy.
His victories over Democratic star Stacey Abrams and purple-state popularity give him credibility and potential influence in the GOP - but he remains at odds with Trump, who has never forgiven the governor's perceived failure by the former president to do more in 2020 to support his efforts to overturn Georgia's election result.
Last year, Trump threw his weight into a primary challenge against Kemp by former Sen. David Perdue, which ultimately did not seriously threaten the governor in his reelection bid.
Kemp has previously contrasted himself implicitly with Trump, saying of his reelection victory last year: "I was just laying out the blue print, for any candidate to be able to win, is to talk about what we're for. Focus on the future not look in the review mirror." And in June he criticized for Trump for congratulating Kim Jong Un in a social media posted.
The governor has however stated he would "certainly" endorse Trump in 2024 if the former president does in fact win the nomination.