ATLANTA — Republicans in the Georgia state senate are leading a two-pronged attack against officeholders who do not support former President Donald Trump.
The GOP senators’ two main targets, initially, are Fulton County D.A. Fani Willis and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Under the legislation, both could face state investigations for opposing Trump and for opposing so-called “election deniers.”
Willis is currently prosecuting Trump and others on charges that he and his co-defendants illegally tried to overturn his 2020 re-election loss.
The Georgia senate voted Friday to approve SR 465 to create a senate committee that would investigate whether Willis and the special prosecutor she hired have been in a personal relationship with each other, and whether they have been benefitting financially, as a couple, from state money that goes to the D.A.’s office; the resolution aims to find out if any of that state money has been used to help fund the legal fees that the office pays the special prosecutor, and if he then spent any of it for personal use with Willis.
“It becomes more and more clear this was a prosecution for profit,” said Sen. Brandon Beach, (R) Alpharetta, who is a Fulton County resident and taxpayer.
Georgia Sen. David Lucas, (D) Macon, and other Democrats are accusing Republicans of practicing “bedroom politics,” as Lucas describes it.
“Where was the special committee when the ex-president called the Secretary of State and said, ‘Find me eleven-thousand votes,’” Lucas asked during the senate debate on the resolution. “You didn’t have a committee to investigate that.”
Senate Republicans also voted to target Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for refusing to overturn Trump’s loss in Fulton County and Georgia back then.
The bill, SB 358, would authorize the State Election Board to investigate Raffensperger.
“This will enhance the confidence that Georgians have in their elections,” said Sen. Max Burns, (R) Sylvania, who is the chair of the senate ethics committee.
Democrats are warning about what they believe could happen if the bill were to become law.
“This bill would further weaponize election deniers in this state by preventing the Secretary of State from certifying the 2024 election if the result does not go their way,” Senator Derek Mallow, (D) Savannah, said.
Dr. Andra Gillespie, Emory University political science professor, said she’s not surprised to see the Republican majority in the legislature go after Willis and Raffensperger. She said the two are easy targets for the GOP as the legislators run for re-election this year.
“All of this is still the fallout from the 2020 election,” Gillespie said. “If you believe that the results of the 2020 election were rigged, you have to go after the Secretary of State, who, in your view, didn't do his job in questioning the results of the 2020 election. And you're certainly going to defend the president in a case that you think is actually being levied by a zealous prosecutor with skeletons in her closet.”
Willis is not commenting, but a spokesman for Raffensperger emailed a statement to 11Alive on Friday:
“Instead of focusing on ensuring that noncitizens aren’t ever able to vote in Georgia elections, stopping foreign interference, or securing funding for additional election audits, some are choosing to play footsie with election denialism and continue to attack Secretary Raffensperger because he was the Republican with the largest margin of victory, last election. It’s sad.
“While others will continue playing politics, our office is focused on ensuring Georgia voters have a smooth, secure, and accurate 2024 election.”
The bill targeting Raffensperger now goes to the House for more debate. As for Willis, the Senate could begin investigating her immediately.