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Last week, Rudy Giuliani essentially set one of Donald Trump’s 2020 election lies on fire when he admitted, in a court filing, that he had made false statements about two Black election workers in Georgia.
Many Republicans — including several Georgia lawmakers who invited Giuliani to spread those falsehoods in legislative hearings — have not been quick to talk about Giuliani’s admission. But there’s one Republican who has at least broached the topic: Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp.
The governor gave remarks to a local outlet, WSB Radio, that were critical of Giuliani. As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported:
‘There’s a lot of people, including me, that were under a lot of pressure then from legislators and other people because of supposedly false statements that he had made,’ Kemp said of Giuliani.
‘Which is really troubling when you’re trying to have secure, accessible, fair elections in the state,’ the governor said, adding: ‘For somebody to manipulate that process to me is very troubling.’
Late last year, Kemp testified before the Fulton County special grand jury that weighed whether to recommend criminal charges in District Attorney Fani Willis’ 2020 election interference probe. And if Kemp told grand jurors what he just told WSB Radio, that obviously wouldn’t be great news for Giuliani.
But I’d argue that Kemp’s recent remarks reflect poorly on him as well.
But I’d argue that Kemp’s recent remarks reflect poorly on him as well.
Perhaps this is what counts for introspection in the governor’s eyes, but what we don’t get in these quotes is a full reckoning with the ways he has effectively acted on Giuliani and Trump’s election lies. Sure, Kemp publicly disagreed with the two men as they pushed conspiracy theories about Georgia’s 2020 election results. But he gave oxygen — and teeth — to those very lies when he later supported and signed a draconian voter suppression law that was backed by Georgia election deniers.
“After the November election last year, I knew, like so many of you, that significant reforms to our state elections were needed,” he said at the time.
Kemp seems to want it both ways. He apparently wants Trumpism and the illiberalism that comes with it — but his remarks about Giuliani suggest he also wants a veil of deniability.
But any denunciation of Giuliani rings hollow unless he also denounces the ensuing legislative assault on democracy. And as governor, he gave that assault his blessing.