Donald Trump kicked off his run for president Saturday as an anti-establishment political outsider. With stops in South Carolina and New Hampshire, national media outlets wrote that the former president framed himself as both a political insider and rabble-rouser.
But next door in Georgia, Trump is also a potential criminal defendant, depending on the outcome of the eight-month special grand jury investigation recently completed in Fulton County Superior Court.
The question now is whether prosecutors will indict the former president or his allies for possible criminal interference into the 2020 elections. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told Judge Robert McBurney last week that decisions on indictments in the case are “imminent.”
Even with his new legal exposure as a backdrop, Trump’s stump speeches Saturday were the same-old, same-old. He repeated lies that the 2020 election was stolen from him, attacked what he called “fake news,” and promoted polls that were favorable to him.
Standing beside Trump for his speech in South Carolina was U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, who was also one of dozens of witnesses subpoenaed to testify in the Fulton County Trump case.
“How many times have we heard, we like Trump policies, but we want somebody else,” Graham said Saturday, according to The State. “There are no Trump policies without Donald Trump.”
Credit: Al Drago/New York Times
Credit: Al Drago/New York Times
One Trump remark that caught our eye Saturday was his broadside against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, telling reporters that his likely rival was “trying to rewrite history” about his pandemic record.
“Florida was closed for a long period of time,” he said of DeSantis, who reopened schools for in-person learning earlier than other states.
Trump was also an outspoken critic of Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp during the pandemic, but for the opposite reason: He panned the Republican for lifting economic restrictions in the first weeks of the crisis, saying it was “just too soon.”
Another tidbit that emerged from the weekend coverage: The New York Times reported that Georgia-based GOP mega donor Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of the Home Depot, has not committed to matching his previous financial support for Trump’s campaign.
Look for more news out of the Fulton County courthouse as early as this week, as McBurney issues a decision about whether he’ll make the grand jury report public. And as Willis said, other decisions in the case may be imminent, too.
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Credit: Casey Sykes for the AJC
Credit: Casey Sykes for the AJC
UNDER THE GOLD DOME:
- 9:00 am: Committee meetings begin;
- 10:00 am: The House convenes;
- 10:00 am: The Senate gavels in.
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Credit: Courtesy photo
Credit: Courtesy photo
ELECTION EVE. Tuesday marks another election day in Georgia to fill several vacant seats in the Legislature.
The highest-profile is the runoff between Sheree Ralston and Johnny Chastian in the Blue Ridge-based House District 7.
Candidates to replace state Sen. Dean Burke in Senate District 11 are also on the ballot Tuesday. If no candidate wins a majority, that race will go to a runoff in February.
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CALM BEFORE THE STORM? Capitol Insiders in Atlanta are marveling at the relatively quiet start to the 2023 Legislative session.
Not only has legislation been slow to gel, newly installed leaders of the state House and Senate are largely steering clear of the kind of hot-button issues that had already been stewing by this point in previous years.
Greg Bluestein and Maya Prabhu have a look at why wonky items like “workforce development” and education funding are so far taking center stage over divisive social issues. But they also point out that the quiet January may either be a preview of a low-key session or the calm before the storm.
“Any member can bring forth legislation at any time,” said Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, a Dahlonega Republican. “So we’ll see if and what gets filed.”
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Credit: J. Scott Trubey/AJC
Credit: J. Scott Trubey/AJC
TALLER TALMADGE. State officials may have found an alternative to replacing the Eugene Talmadge Memorial Bridge in Savannah to accommodate ever-growing container ships that need more clearance.
The Georgia Department of Transportation approved hiring a contractor to explore raising the roughly 32-year-old span rather than build a new one, WJCL-TV reported. The project could cost at least $150 million — a fraction of the price tag for a new bridge.
The towering suspension bridge spans the Savannah River. The current design replaced the original Talmadge Bridge in 1991 and fast became a signature landmark of the city’s skyline. But it also sparked backlash because of its namesake: Eugene Talmadge, the segregationist Georgia governor who was elected to three terms, starting in the 1930s.
Over the years, Savannah’s political leaders have urged state legislators to ditch the bridge’s name. In 2018, Republican state Rep. Ron Stephens, backed by a small army of Girl Scouts, proposed renaming the bridge for Girl Scouts founder Juliette Gordon Low, a Savannah native.
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FIRST UP. Speaking of the Talmadge Bridge, it’s a project that Josh Waller named specifically in explaining the need for a new bill making changes to a 2021 law that gave contractors more input on developing state projects.
Waller, the director of policy and government affairs for the DOT, told Capitol Beat’s Dave Williams that complex projects like the Talmadge Bridge are the kinds of work that would benefit from the legislation from state Rep. Brad Thomas, R-Holly Springs.
But Capitol regular Neill Herring said the legislation would give too much control to the Georgia Department of Transportation.
Thomas’ bill has now passed committee and will likely be among the first up for a vote by the full House.
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MORE MCDANIEL. Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel quashed an in-house revolt to win a fourth term as chair of the national party. She defeated her main challenger Harmeet Dhillon by a 111-51 vote, while far-right conspiracy theorist Mike Lindell got four votes.
Georgia RNC committeeman Jason Thompson backed Dhillon’s unsuccessful challenge last week, but it’s not clear how the state’s other members cast their ballots.
Ginger Howard wouldn’t say who she supported, while embattled GOP chair David Shafer said on Twitter he would “help” both Dhillon and McDaniel.
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EYE ON POLICING. Memphis Police released video footage Friday night that showed officers brutally beating Tyre Nichols after a traffic stop earlier this month. Nichols died Jan. 10, three days after his interaction with police.
The video spurred protests across the nation, including in metro Atlanta. Activists in Atlanta called for change, but not violence, and no confrontations with law enforcement were reported.
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC
Look for debate now on ways to improve public safety and law enforcement, especially when it comes to interactions involving people of color. Nichols was Black, as are all five of the officers fired and charged in his death.
The Congressional Black Caucus asked President Joe Biden to meet with members this week. Policing legislation stalled in Congress after a summer of protests in 2020 following the death of George Floyd, among others.
“No one in our nation should fear interacting with the police officers who serve our diverse communities, large and small,” U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford, a Nevada Democrat who serves as CBC chairman, wrote in a statement Sunday. “We all want to be safe.
“Many Black and brown people, however, and many young people in general, are justifiably afraid to interact with law enforcement officials. We are calling on our colleagues in the House and Senate to jumpstart negotiations now and work with us to address the public health epidemic of police violence that disproportionately affects many of our communities.”
Appearing on MSNBC’s Politics Nation on Sunday, Horsford also said that Nichols’ family will attend President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address next week as guests of the CBC.
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TODAY IN WASHINGTON:
- The U.S. House returns for votes this evening.
- The Senate is also scheduled to return today.
- President Joe Biden will travel to Baltimore to deliver a speech on the use of infrastructure dollars.
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Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
MEDICINE CABINET. U.S. Rep. Buddy Carter has teamed up with U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a Delaware Democrat, to introduce legislation to require the federal government to stockpile certain medicines.
Carter, R-Pooler, and Rochester co-authored a commentary for The Hill explaining their bill, the Essential Medicines Strategic Stockpile Act.
It would require the federal Department of Health and Human Services to come up with a list of 50 generic medicines deemed essential during public health emergencies and contract with private distributors to build up a national stockpile. The bill would also pave the way to requiring companies to ensure that a six-month supply of essential medicines is available at all times.
In their essay, Carter and Blunt Rochester compare the proposal to the nation’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve, an emergency stockpile of crude oil.
“Millions of Americans are feeling the impact of drug shortages, from children’s Tylenol to amoxicillin,” they wrote. “The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the fragility of our drug supply chains, underscoring America’s reliance on foreign — even hostile — nations for our most crucial medicines.”
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Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC
MORE COMMITTEES. U.S. House Democrats started learning their committee assignments late last week. Since all five Georgia Democrats are incumbents, most will remain on the same standing committees:
- U.S. Rep. David Scott, D-Atlanta, will remain the top-serving Democrat on the Agriculture Committee. He will also continue to serve on the Financial Services Committee.
- U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, D-Albany, is staying on the powerful Appropriations Committee.
- U.S. Rep. Hank Johnson, D-Lithonia, kept his seats on the Judiciary and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. But he will no longer serve on the Oversight panel.
- U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath, D-Marietta, will serve on Judiciary and the Education and Workforce panel.
- We told you already that Rep. Nikema Williams, D-Atlanta, is returning to Financial Services.
Because Democrats are no longer in the majority, the party has fewer seats to fill on the various standing committees. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries has not announced which members will serve on select committees, including panels that will oversee investigations of federal agencies and the nation’s response to the coronavirus.
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AS ALWAYS, Jolt readers are some of our favorite tipsters. Send your best scoop, gossip and insider info to patricia.murphy@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com and greg.bluestein@ajc.com.
