ATLANTA — Note: 11Alive is publishing online stories about key figures in Fulton County's 2020 election investigation. These people were asked to testify in front of the special purpose grand jury, are targets of the investigation, or could be indicted as part of the probe.
Newt Gingrich has been a fixture in Georgia politics since the 1970s.
But long gone are his days as a congressional powerhouse. He was a key architect of the GOP’s 1994 takeover, and he served as Speaker of the House during part of the Clinton administration.
But the Gingrich name still holds weight in the Peach State, and he used that weight to support Donald Trump in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
Gingrich’s attempts to help the former president caught the attention of Fulton County prosecutors investigating whether Trump and his allies violated state law. Gingrich was one of the few asked to testify who successfully avoided coming before the special grand jury.
The former Georgia congressman allegedly took part in several plans to cast doubt on Joe Biden’s victory.
Gingrich’s political power and roots were well established before he became a Trump ally.
Who is Newt Gingrich?
The Georgia Republican got his first taste of politics as the southern regional director for Nelson Rockefeller during the 1968 Republican primaries.
A history and geography professor at the University of West Georgia during the 1970s, Gingrich first ran for Congress in 1974 in the sixth congressional district. He lost to incumbent Democrat Jack Flynt.
He unsuccessfully re-challenged Flynt in 1976 before the Democrat decided to retire. Against Democratic state senator Virginia Shapard in 1978, Gingrich won, becoming the first Republican to represent the district.
Gingrich would serve two decades in Congress, rising through the ranks to lead the 1994 Republican Revolution. The party gained 54 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives and eight in the Senate, giving them control in both chambers for the first time in roughly 40 years.
For his efforts, Gingrich was elected Speaker of the House when Congress returned in January 1995, and Time Magazine named him 1995’s Man of the Year.
While Gingrich understood how to take power, he couldn’t hold onto it.
His ethics violations, the Clinton impeachment, and a poor 1998 midterms for the GOP led the Georgia Republican to resign from the speakership and Congress.
Gingrich flirted with presidential runs in 2000 and 2008 but never made the leap. He entered the 2012 Republican primary and was considered an early-front runner. Gingrich won the South Carolina primary, but he dropped out of the race by April.
In 2016, Gingrich was considered as a potential running mate for Trump. Gingrich was an early supporter and advised the campaign. However, he had more mixed feelings about Trump in private.
In a closed-door February 2016 speech, Gingrich said Trump wasn’t a real conservative. The reality star turned politician appealed to voters “at the lowest level of any candidate in either party,” Gingrich told the Republican State Leadership Committee, according to ProPublica.
“I do not believe anybody including Trump can tell you what a Trump presidency would be like,” Gingrich said during the speech.
What did Gingrich do in Georgia?
Fulton County prosecutors allege that Gingrich was involved in several Trump campaign plots following the 2020 election.
A petition seeking Gingrich's testimony before the Fulton County Special Purpose Grand Jury outlined the accusations. Prosecutors relied on records released by the U.S. House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack.
Gingrich, along with others on the Trump campaign, was involved in a plan to air TV ads that “repeated and relied upon false claims about fraud in the 2020 election” and “encouraged members of the public to contact their state officials and pressure them to challenge and overturn the results of the election,” according to a Fulton County court filing.
Gingrich also urged Trump to air ads claiming that Fulton County election workers smuggled in suitcases of ballots into State Farm Arena.
Georgia election officials debunked those claims. The Georgia State Election Board dismissed a case tied to the alleged election fraud at State Farm Arena last month.
The former Georgia congressman was also allegedly involved in the fake elector plot and also sought to put pressure on state governments in battleground states.
In an email to a member of the Trump campaign on Dec. 8, 2020, Gingrich said the goal was to “arouse the country’s anger” through “new verifiable information.”
“If we inform the American people in a way they find convincing and it arouses their anger, they will then bring pressure on legislatures and governors,” Gingrich said in the email released by the Jan. 6 committee.
Gingrich sent another on Dec. 12, 2020, to former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and former White House Counsel Pat Cipollone, asking who was overseeing the alternate electors.
In Georgia, 16 Republicans cast Electoral College ballots falsely claiming that Trump won the 2020 election. At least half of the alternate electors have accepted immunity deals, according to court filings.
Gingrich, a Virginia resident, fought his Fulton County summons. A Virginia court initially ruled in early November 2022 that he must testify. The Republican was in the midst of appeals when the special grand jury completed its work in January.
Gingrich’s legal and Fulton County prosecutors then asked the appeals court to dismiss the case, CNN reports.
Indictments related to the 2020 election investigation are expected before Sept. 1. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has hinted that charging decisions would come in early or mid-August.
The two grand juries that could hear evidence related to the investigation were sworn in Tuesday.