Ossoff accuses Trump of ordering Fulton County raid to suppress Black voters
Today’s newsletter highlights:
- Clay Fuller says Donald Trump’s endorsement is a difference maker.
- Gavin Newsom’s fundraiser for Keisha Lance Bottoms stirs critics.
- John King endorses Tim Fleming for secretary of state.
FBI fallout
U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff will need an overwhelming majority of Georgia’s Black voters to support him if he is to win reelection this year. He made his case on Sunday at two Black churches in Atlanta by framing the FBI’s recent Fulton County raid as an attempt by President Donald Trump to suppress Black votes.
“He sent them to Fulton County to seize your ballots on a pack of lies,” Ossoff said at Big Bethel A.M.E. Church. “But why Fulton? In part, for the same reason this president posts videos that depict Barack and Michelle Obama as apes.”
He continued: “The power of Black voters, and the fact that the power of Black voters ejected him from office, may outrage him more than the defeat itself. And so he tries to delegitimize your exercise of power. With elections approaching, he tries to suppress it.”
Ossoff’s remarks came during the church’s Social Justice Sunday program that also included Futon County District Attorney Fani Willis, Fulton County Commissioner Mo Ivory and National Urban League President Marc Morial. Like Ossoff, multiple speakers framed the 2026 and 2028 elections as a pivotal moment in Black voters’ ongoing fight for voting rights and civil rights.
The raid has dominated discussions among Democrats in an election year. During a visit to Macon last week, former Vice President Kamala Harris spent more time talking about the raid than promoting her new memoir, the Macon Telegraph reported. She said the FBI affidavit justifying the raid was full of “propaganda.”
Ossoff won in 2021 with the help of a massive turnout of Black voters. But unlike that election, Ossoff won’t have U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, Georgia’s first Black senator, on the ballot with him.
Ossoff delivered a similar message earlier Sunday at Cascade United Methodist Church.
“How foolish to launch an attack on voting rights here at the political and spiritual center of the Black history they seek to erase,” Ossoff said. “In 2026, if this man in the White House thinks that after all that, he’s going to come down and silence the people of the great state of Georgia, he will be dealt his most resounding defeat yet.”
Things to know
Good morning! It’s Presidents Day, so the state Legislature is off and federal government offices are closed. But Georgia’s state government offices are open. Georgia officially celebrates George Washington’s birthday on Dec. 24.
Here are three other things to know for today:
- State officials predicted a tax break for data centers would cost them $327 million. Instead, it cost more than $2 billion, the AJC’s Zachary Hansen reports.
- A Georgia Army veteran was deported last week after spending roughly six months in the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the AJC’s Lautaro Grinspan reports.
- Atlanta officials paid a former municipal clerk nearly $1 million to verify signatures for a public safety training center referendum — work that never began, the AJC’s Riley Bunch reports.
Georgia 14th
If President Donald Trump remade the special election for Georgia’s 14th District by anointing prosecutor Clay Fuller as his favorite, his Republican rivals weren’t acting like it.
After Trump endorsed Fuller to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in Congress, a handful of GOP Contenders dropped out of the March 10 special election. But most stayed in the race and showed up at Atlanta Press Club forums on Sunday to define their lanes.
You can watch the forums beginning at 9 a.m. today on the Atlanta Press Club Debates YouTube channel and at GPB.org.
With Democrat Shawn Harris expected to claim one of the runoff spots, Fuller’s chief Republican obstacle may be former state Sen. Colton Moore — an ultraconservative expelled from the Senate GOP caucus after clashing with colleagues.
We caught up with Fuller after the forum for an interview.
On the impact of Trump’s endorsement:
“It was rocket fuel. Every candidate in this race said they were 100% Trump and this defined who the Trump endorsed candidate was, who is identified as the person who is going to carry the MAGA agenda.”
On how he won it:
“It was important I had a prior existing relationship working for the first Trump administration. … He loves military veterans, he loves America First prosecutors. And to be honest with you, his first inaugural speech was the whole reason that I got into politics.”
On the possibility of a Democratic upset:
“The message to the party at this point is: ‘It’s time for us to unite.’ Because the real tragedy is we’re approaching three months without representation in D.C.”
On differences with Greene:
“I’ve got the gear to be a bomb thrower, but I know when I need to do it. And I know when I need to persuade people in a different manner. And that’s defined my career.”
On differences with Moore:
“I’m not a career politician. I’m a military veteran. I’m a prosecutor who’s been fighting essentially for the same counties that he’s represented to make sure that it was the safest community in northwest Georgia. And I’ve put a ton of bad criminals behind bars.”
Newsom effect?
California Gov. Gavin Newsom will headline a fundraiser this weekend in Atlanta for former Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, who’s navigating a volatile May primary for governor.
Newsom, who’s also on a book tour, will give Bottoms a financial boost and a high-profile moment alongside a likely presidential contender.
But the event also triggering criticism from her opponents from both sides of the aisle.
Attorney General Chris Carr, a GOP candidate: “Gavin Newsom campaigning here tells us everything we need to know. If we get this primary wrong, Georgia starts looking a lot more like California. Higher taxes. Soft on crime policies. The stakes couldn’t be higher.”
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, a GOP candidate: “The only thing more disastrous than Keisha Lance Bottoms’ time as mayor of Atlanta is Gavin Newsom’s time as California governor. We hope they spend a lot of time in front of the cameras together because Georgians want nothing to do with either of them.”
Republican Rick Jackson, a GOP candidate: “Birds of a feather. I will not let Keisha Lance Bottoms destroy Georgia the way she destroyed Atlanta and Gavin Newsom destroyed California.”
Gov. Brian Kemp: “Make no mistake, Georgia Democrats want to make our state more like Newsom’s California: higher taxes, higher cost of living, dangerous criminals on our streets, and a government that caters to far-left activists instead of the hardworking men and women of our state.”
State Rep. Ruwa Romman, a Democratic rival: “Georgia is at a tipping point. We can either have more corporate capture of our state, or finally invest in Georgians.”
Silent treatment
Officials in Social Circle, about 50 miles east of Atlanta, say Trump administration officials still have not spoken to them about their move to purchase and retrofit a warehouse in the city to house up to 10,000 detained immigrants.
U.S. Rep. Mike Collins, a Republican U.S. Senate candidate whose district includes the city, had brokered a call between city officials and the Department of Homeland Security on Friday. But that call never happened.
“The City is disappointed to report that the Department of Homeland Security continues to ignore the needs and concerns of the City by not participating in the meeting as planned,” Social Circle leaders posted to Facebook. Collins earlier said that DHS plans to begin sending immigrant detainees to the warehouse in April.
A spokesperson for Collins said Sunday that the congressman and his staff “have been in frequent contact” with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and that Social Circle leaders ”should see communication from ICE shortly.”
Listen up
Today on the “Politically Georgia” podcast we answer questions from the listener mailbag about the FBI raid in Fulton County, the First Liberty Ponzi scheme investigation and the growing controversy over the Department of Homeland Security.
You can listen and subscribe to Politically Georgia for free an Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Have a question or comment for the show? Email us at politicallygeorgia@ajc.com or give us a call at 770-810-5297 and you could be featured on a future episode.
Elections chief
Georgia Insurance Commissioner John King endorsed state Rep. Tim Fleming for secretary of state, adding another statewide Republican to Fleming’s growing list of supporters.
King joins state House Speaker Jon Burns, Agriculture Commissioner Tyler Harper and more than 80 GOP legislators who have lined up behind Fleming’s campaign.
King said Fleming “understands the importance of reducing bureaucratic red tape that holds back our small businesses and professionals, and he has the proven track record to get it done.”
Fleming faces several other GOP rivals in May, including former state elections official Gabriel Sterling and ex-U.S. Senate candidate Kelvin King.
Today in Washington
- President Donald Trump has no public events on his schedule for Presidents Day, a federal holiday.
- The House and Senate are out this week.
Subpoena watch
The Georgia Senate committee investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis expects to hear from two more witnesses in the next few weeks.
Lawmakers have subpoenaed testimony from Nathan Wade and Jeff DiSantis, according to state Sen. Bill Cowsert, chair of the Special Committee on Investigations.
Wade is the former special prosecutor Willis hired to assist with the prosecution of President Donald Trump and 18 other defendants in the election interference case. A romance between Willis and Wade ultimately led to Willis’ disqualification and the subsequent dismissal of the case last fall.
DiSantis is Willis’ spokesperson. The committee is expected to ask him about a paid service that tracked the value of “earned media” from news coverage of the case.
No word on whether the committee will hear from Stacey Abrams, a former Democratic candidate for governor who’s another target of the committee.
Shoutouts
Today’s birthdays:
- State Rep. El-Mahdi Holly, D-Stockbridge.
- State Rep. Sheila Jones, D-Atlanta.
- U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff, D-Ga.
Want a birthday shoutout in the Politically Georgia newsletter? There’s a form for that. Click here to submit the shoutouts. It’s not just birthdays. We’re also interested in new jobs, engagements, birth announcements, etc.
Before you go
Republicans in the state Senate have revived legislation that would restrict transgender adults and children from accessing gender-affirming care.
That’ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.
About the Authors
Greg Bluestein is the Atlanta Journal Constitution's chief political reporter. He is also an author, TV analyst and co-host of the Politically Georgia podcast.
Tia Mitchell is the AJC’s Washington Bureau Chief and a co-host of the "Politically Georgia" podcast. She writes about Georgia’s congressional delegation, campaigns, elections and the impact that decisions made in D.C. have on residents of the Peach State.
Patricia Murphy is the AJC's senior political columnist. She was previously a nationally syndicated columnist for CQ Roll Call, national political reporter for the Daily Beast and Politics Daily, and wrote for The Washington Post and Garden & Gun. She graduated from Vanderbilt and holds a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University.
More Stories
The Latest
