PG A.M.: Arizona election case against Trump allies echoes Georgia’s

The Arizona attorney general’s office charged former Trump top aide Mark Meadows, attorneys Christina Bobb, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and Rudy Giuliani, adviser Boris Epshteyn and aide Mike Roman. Trump wasn’t charged but is listed in the indictment as an unindicted co-conspirator.

Credit: AJC file photos

Credit: AJC file photos

The charges overlap with the sweeping Fulton County racketeering case against Trump and 18 co-defendants. Eastman, Ellis, Giuliani, Meadows and Roman were all indicted in Georgia last year. Ellis pleaded guilty last year and is cooperating with prosecutors.

Arizona’s case breaks new ground in other ways. It’s the first time Bobb and Epshteyn face charges.

It brought familiar backlash from top Trump loyalists in Georgia, who have long accused Willis of weaponizing her office to hurt the Republican’s comeback bid.

“Absolutely disgusted to hear of another Democrat prosecutor putting her party over this country, trying to criminalize the lawful contest of an election,” said Georgia GOP chair Josh McKoon.

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NEW LAWS. Gov. Brian Kemp continued his bill-signing bonanza this week, inking a measure that doubles paid parental leave for state employees to six weeks and one that limits the ability of new unions to form in the state, our colleague Michelle Baruchman reports.

House Bill 1010 allows new parents who are state workers to take paid time off after the birth or adoption of a child. Senate Bill 362 prevents companies voluntarily recognizing unions from accessing state tax credits for mega-projects.

Kemp has also signed several other pieces of legislation regarding mental health and substance use disorder, such as SB 395, which allows opioid-reversal drugs to be stored in schools, and bills pertaining to the licensing of mental health facilities.

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Credit: Courtesy photo

Credit: Courtesy photo

FIRST LADY LAWS. It’s hard to think of anyone at the state Capitol with a better track record of getting bills passed into law than first lady Marty Kemp. Her work to crack down on human trafficking continues to yield new legislation and, as of yesterday, new laws.

On Wednesday, Gov. Brian Kemp signed three new measures, including House Bill 993, which makes “grooming” of a minor a new felony offense, and HB 1201, which allows authorities to vacate the sentences of some victims of sex trafficking who were convicted of crimes.

Speaking to reporters following the bill signings, the first lady said the measures came from her work with the GRACE Commission created to examine anti-trafficking policies, as well as ongoing conversations with trafficking victims.

“I’ve cried with them. I’ve had them to the mansion and had lunch with them. They did not choose this life,” she said. “I want them to know that somebody is out there fighting for them.”

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Credit: Audra Melton/The New York Times

Credit: Audra Melton/The New York Times

KEMP CASH. Fireside chats with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and ex-House Speaker John Boehner. Breakfast with Gov. Brian Kemp and his wife Marty. Policy and politics panels and a “VIP Only” activity.

Kemp’s third Sea Island Summit kicks off Monday for donors to his Hardworking Americans PAC. The three-day gathering on the coast will cost attendees $10,000 a pop and $25,000 for VIP access, according to an invite obtained by the Documented advocacy group.

The retreat has become a staple of KempWorld politics. Last year, attendees noted that Kemp seemed to crack the door open to a potential run for president and listened as national operatives delved into the ups and downs of the 2022 cycle for the GOP.

That event raised $1.2 million for Kemp-backed committees, an organizer said. This one could top it.

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Credit: AP

Credit: AP

TRY AGAIN. A group of attorneys who sued to move the election interference investigation of Lt. Gov. Burt Jones forward now wants the appointed investigator off the case, Fox 5 Atlanta reports.

The investigator in question is Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia Executive Director Pete Skandalakis, who appointed himself to head the probe. Skandalakis will review the lieutenant governor’s role in the 2020 election interference case involving GOP electors for then-President Donald Trump.

Skandalakis’ investigation begins after nearly two years of searching for a prosecutor in the state willing to do the job.

The choice fell to Skandalakis after a judge removed Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the Jones investigation in 2021. But the attorneys suing to have him removed from the case are arguing that he may be influenced by the fact that the General Assembly, including Jones, set the budget for the PAQC.

“(Skandalakis) has a conflict of interest, and that conflict of interest is a financial conflict of interest,” Fayetteville attorney Wayne Kendall told the FOX 5 I-Team. “We’re asking the judge to make a ruling that that discretion was improperly exercised and is a gross abuse of discretion.”

Jones’ office did not respond to a request for comment from Fox 5.

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Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

ON THE AIR. The pro-Donald Trump MAGA Inc. PAC is on the air in Georgia with a new TV ad volley aiming to turn off voters who backed President Joe Biden in 2020. We’re told it involves a significant ad buy in middle Georgia.

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PROTESTS. A student-led group at the University of Georgia is demanding that the university issue a statement of solidarity with the Palestinian people and disclose any financial ties to companies with investments in Israel, which the petition repeatedly refers to in quotations as “Israel” and “the Zionist project.”

“We will not permit the institution which claims to serve us deal death in our names,” the petition says.

Credit: Jacqueline GaNun

Credit: Jacqueline GaNun

The tersely-worded petition also accuses UGA President Jere Morehead of “one-sided and blatant bias” when discussing the terrorist group Hamas’ attack on Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, asks the university to protect “pro-Palestine speech, activism, lectures, and campaigns on campus” and demands an end to study abroad programs in Israel.

About 150 signatures have been collected so far, while a student-led effort on the Signal messaging platform is calling for an encampment to be established on the UGA campus.

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Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

Credit: Miguel Martinez/AJC

GRADUATION DEBATE. The kerfuffle over President Joe Biden’s selection as Morehouse College commencement speaker continued Wednesday, with the school’s provost telling the AJC’s Jillian Price and Ernie Suggs the president’s May 19 visit “brings attention to our mission and the role Morehouse has had in the community.”

Biden will be the second sitting president to speak at a Morehouse graduation in the college’s 157-year history. Some students, faculty and alumni have raised questions about Biden giving the commencement address because of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war and have voiced concerns the president’s visit may hurt the college’s reputation as the country’s leading institution for Black men.

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Credit: Olivia Bowdoin for the AJC

Credit: Olivia Bowdoin for the AJC

PORTS SUPPORT. Traffic is surging at the Georgia Ports Authority’s vehicle terminal in Brunswick as automobile and other wheeled cargo that was destined for the Port of Baltimore is being handled in Georgia instead following a bridge collapse that closed the Baltimore facility.

On Wednesday, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Atlanta, sent letters to Gov. Brian Kemp and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers encouraging them “to deploy all necessary additional resources” to the Ports Authority’s terminals in Brunswick and Savannah to help them handle the shift in goods.

Brunswick saw a 21% year-over-year jump in roll-on, roll-off cargo, or Ro-Ro, in March and has seen an even busier April with the Port of Baltimore’s closure. A cargo ship struck the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, collapsing the span and blocking access to the port. Six construction workers performing maintenance on the bridge died in the accident.

Baltimore and Brunswick are the two busiest Ro-Ro ports on the East Coast.

Warnock’s letter echoed earlier calls by Kemp to Georgia’s congressional delegation to support the ports. The AJC’s Michael E. Kannell has more on Warnock’s call.

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Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

LISTEN UP. Today on the “Politically Georgia” radio show, state Rep. Saira Draper, D-Atlanta, talks about new changes to Georgia voting laws. Later, Atlanta Press Club Executive Director Lauri Strauss gives an overview of who is, and who is not, facing off against primary opponents in the Press Club’s upcoming debates on Sunday.

The show airs at 10 a.m. on 90.1 FM, at AJC.com and at WABE.org.

If you missed Wednesday’s episode, AJC education columnist Maureen Downey talked about the school voucher legislation that Gov. Brian Kemp signed into law on Tuesday. And Democratic strategist Rick Dent gave his read of the latest polling on the presidential contest.

Listen at Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

Credit: Evan Vucci/AP

TODAY IN WASHINGTON:

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Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

Credit: Hyosub Shin/AJC

HEAVY HITTERS. Georgia Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, has been endorsed by the state’s three highest-profile Democrats in her primary election race against challenger Nadine Thomas.

U.S. Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, along with two-time gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, are backing Parent in the May 21 vote. Her opponent, Thomas, is a former state senator attempting a comeback bid for the redrawn metro Atlanta district who has accused Parent of suppressing Black voters.

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AS ALWAYS, Politically Georgia readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com.