Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp testified Tuesday before the special grand jury investigating possible 2020 election inference by former President Donald Trump and his allies.
The scheduled testimony of Kemp, confirmed by a source familiar with the arrangements, comes after a Georgia judge in August denied his bid to avoid testifying before the grand jury. Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney ruled that Kemp would not have to testify until after the November election, which the governor won last week.
Kemp was seen leaving the courthouse Tuesday, according to the Associated Press. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported Kemp would testify Tuesday.
The grand jury, impaneled as part of Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ investigation into the 2020 election, is interested in speaking with Kemp about alleged efforts by Trump White House officials and allies to pressure him into overturning the results in the battleground state amid the then-president’s false claims of widespread election fraud.
Kemp became a target of Trump's ire after the governor resisted pressure to overturn the election, including pushing back on the then-president’s demand to convene a special session of the state legislature to reverse Joe Biden’s victory in the state.
Trump repeatedly knocked Kemp in public remarks. Weeks after the 2020 presidential election, Trump told Fox News that he was “ashamed” he had endorsed Kemp in 2018.
The former president recruited former Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., who sowed doubt on the 2020 election results, to challenge Kemp in Georgia’s gubernatorial primary. Perdue lost handily to Kemp in the election, during which the former president reportedly groused about what he believed was a lackluster campaign effort from the former senator.
