Georgia Speaker Arrests GOP Senator Who Criticized His Predecessor
'[T]oday’s actions by Speaker Jon Burns are both retaliatory, petty and unbecoming of his office.''[T]oday’s actions by Speaker Jon Burns are both retaliatory, petty and unbecoming of his office.'Stacey Abrams' groups forced to pay largest campaign violation fine recorded in Georgia's history
Two groups founded by failed gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams (D) that sided with alleged domestic terrorists in 2023 have been slapped with what the Georgia State Ethics Commission indicated Wednesday was both the largest fine it has ever imposed and possibly also "the largest Ethics Fine ever imposed by any State Ethics Commission in the country related to an election and campaign finance case."
Abrams and her groups have been embroiled in scandals for over a decade. Atlanta Magazine reported in 2015, around the time Abrams' groups were apparently siphoning millions of dollars in donations and turning out pitiful results, that funders were keen to know where their money went. The late state Sen. Vincent Fort stated, "[Abrams] hasn't been open and transparent."
Influence Watch noted that in its first years, Abrams' nonprofit New Georgia Project — whose stated mission is "to build power with and increase the civic participation of ... black, Latinx, AAPI, and young Georgians ... and other historically marginalized communities" — not only failed to meet its quotas but was accused of submitting fraudulent voter registration applications and paying over $1.5 million to a D.C.-based voter registration firm instead of doing the work itself. Meanwhile, Abrams was accused of taking a massive salary while working for only 20 hours per week for the organization.
When it came time for Abrams to announce her ill-fated gubernatorial bid in 2017, her groups were apparently ready to engage in far more consequential wrongdoing on her behalf.
In 2019, a Georgia Government Transparency and Campaign Finance Commission attorney filed complaints alleging that the NGP engaged in substantial election spending in 2018 and 2019 without registering or filing the required disclosures. In the investigation that ensued, the commission subpoenaed the NGP's bank records and invoices.
'This represents the largest and most significant instance of an organization illegally influencing our statewide elections.'
The commission alleged in 2022 that Abrams' New Georgia Project and the New Georgia Project Action Fund had failed to disclose over $3 million worth of electioneering expenses and over $4 million in political contributions between 2017 and 2019. Axios noted at the time that the commission argued the action fund and the nonprofit operated as a single entity but neglected to register as a super PAC or "independent committee" and failed to detail electioneering expenses.
Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock (Ga.) was CEO of the scandal-plagued outfit in 2017, 2018, and 2019.
The commission advanced the complaint in August 2022, having determined that the NGP and its corresponding action fund had violated campaign ethics laws at least eight times. It turns out that the group was apparently guilty of many more violations than first thought.
The Georgia State Ethics Commission noted Wednesday, several six- and seven-figure NGP financial discrepancies later, that "this represents the largest and most significant instance of an organization illegally influencing our statewide elections in Georgia that we have ever discovered."
The current leaders of Abrams' group admitted in the consent decree, unanimously approved by the ethics board and released Wednesday, to 16 instances of illegal activity and agreed to pay a fine of $300,000 for violating state law.
David Fox, a lawyer for the NGP and action fund, told commissioners over video, "The matter relates to events from more than five years ago, and respondents are eager to put the matter behind them," reported the Associated Press.
Michael Brewer, a spokesman for Warnock's Senate office, suggested that the Democrat who was listed as CEO of the NGP during the time of its worst known abuses knew nothing of the violations.
David Emadi, executive director of the commission, said of Warnock's potential culpability, "I'm not prepared to say he had direct involvement in this."
Politico noted that a spokesman for Abrams did not respond to its request for comment.
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Garland Seeks To Trample Americans’ Due Process Rights To Get Trump
It would be outrageous for AG Garland to continue to push for the release of the special counsel's report.Fani Willis ordered to pay $22K for ignoring records request and hiding communications
Last week, a Georgia court ordered Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to pay Judicial Watch nearly $22,000, finding that she ignored the organization's open records request and hid communications.
In August 2023, Judicial Watch submitted an Open Records Act request for communications Willis' office had with the Department of Justice's special counsel Jack Smith's office and the House committee investigating the January 6, 2021, protest at the United States Capitol.
'The District Attorney's Office flatly ignored Plaintiff's original ORA request, conducting no search and simply (and falsely) informing the County's Open Records Custodian that no responsive records existed.'
The DA's office claimed it did "not have the responsive records."
"This response was perplexing and eventually suspicious to [Judicial Watch], given that Plaintiff subsequently uncovered through own effort at least one document that should have been in the District Attorney's Office's possession that was patently responsive to the request," Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney wrote.
In March 2024, Judicial Watch filed a lawsuit against Willis, arguing that she had "falsely denied" having any related communications to its open records request.
The judge found that Willis' office repeatedly denied the existence of such records. However, in a later memo, her office "announced that there still were no records responsive to one set of Plaintiff's requests (communications with former Special Counsel Jack Smith) but that there were in fact records responsive to Plaintiff's second set of requests (communications with the United States House January 6th Committee) -- but those were exempt from disclosure."
McBurney stated that an open records request "is not hortatory; it is mandatory."
"Non-compliance has consequences," he wrote.
"Per her Records Custodian's own admission, the District Attorney's Office flatly ignored Plaintiff's original ORA request, conducting no search and simply (and falsely) informing the County's Open Records Custodian that no responsive records existed," McBurney continued. "We know now that that is simply incorrect: once pressed by a Court order, Defendant managed to identify responsive records, but has categorized them as exempt."
McBurney called the "late revelation" of the allegedly exempt communications "a patent violation" of Judicial Watch's open records request.
The judge ordered Willis to pay the organization's $21,578 in legal fees within two weeks.
Judicial Watch president Tom Fitton responded to the McBurney's decision.
"Fani Willis flouted the law, and the court is right to slam her and require, at a minimum, the payment of nearly $22,000 to Judicial Watch," Fitton said. "But in the end, Judicial Watch wants the full truth on what she was hiding – her office's political collusion with the Pelosi January 6 committee to 'get Trump.'"
The DA's office did not respond to a request for comment from the New York Post.
Willis and her office have faced several misconduct allegations over the past year.
In December, Willis was disqualified from the Georgia case against President-elect Donald Trump due to her affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade.
Willis also faced an investigation into her office's alleged misuse of federal grants worth $488,000. According to a staff whistleblower, the funds, which were earmarked for establishing a youth gang prevention center, were spent on ineligible and unrelated expenses.
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Georgia GOP banishes former lieutenant governor after Harris endorsement
A former lieutenant governor of Georgia has been formally banished from the state Republican Party after he endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election.
On Monday, party leaders announced that ex-Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan had been expelled by unanimous vote after his single term in office "was marred by embarrassment and scandal," including a series of alleged attempts to undermine fellow Republicans.
Duncan, who served as second in command from 2019 until 2023 and in the state House from 2013 until 2017, campaigned "as a Trump supporting conservative," the party resolution claimed. However, once he entered office, he "sought openly to undermine and sabotage" the candidacy of other Georgia Republicans, including current Lt. Gov. Burt Jones and U.S. Senate nominee Herschel Walker.
Duncan also has a troubled history with the truth, the party indicated. He allegedly "falsely" implied that he had been endorsed by then-President Donald Trump. He also claimed "he graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology, played major league baseball as a member of the Miami Marlins and was a 'successful businessman.'"
'Geoff Duncan clearly decided to join with the Democratic Party, and particularly extreme elements of the Democratic Party.'
Duncan made no bones about his opposition to Trump in 2024. He not only endorsed President Joe Biden as well as Biden's replacement, Kamala Harris, but he also spoke at the DNC in August, calling on voters to "dump Trump."
Voters in Georgia and across the country did not heed his cries, and now that Trump is about to assume office once again, the Georgia GOP has officially cut ties with Duncan.
The resolution bars Duncan from all party property and events and prevents him running for office in Georgia as a Republican. It also expunges the previous endorsements he received from the party when he ran for the state House and for lieutenant governor.
"Geoff Duncan is no longer a Republican," Georgia GOP Chair Josh McKoon said in a statement to WSB-TV. "Geoff Duncan clearly decided to join with the Democratic Party, and particularly extreme elements of the Democratic Party."
The resolution demands that Duncan refrain from referring to himself as a Republican, and McKoon asked media outlets to characterize him as an "expelled Republican."
Duncan responded to the resolution to expel him by retweeting it, adding the message: "Hard to believe this is a good use of time for a party that’s only got a limited amount of time to figure out mass deportations, world peace and global tariffs. Learn how to take a victory lap not light another dumpster fire @JoshMcKoon."
H/T: Eric Daugherty
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Efforts To Sentence Trump In Sham NY Criminal Case Confirm Democrats’ Crazy Lawfare
The very lawfare the Democrats unleashed against Trump apparently means nothing now because Judge Merchan needs a way forward.The Gen Z ‘King’ keeping Georgia boys off the streets
King Randall, founder of the X for Boys in Albany, Georgia, admits that once upon a time, he “hated white people.”
Now, Randall, who is only 25 years old, has not only changed his mind — he is changing the world.
“Our organization was founded in 2019 in January. I was 19 years old when I first started this work with the children. I started out taking them on different field trips, taking them to different history museums, etcetera,” Randall tells Glenn Beck on “The Glenn Beck Podcast.”
Randall was doing one of his free summer camps for the children when he discovered that around 15 out of the 20 children in attendance couldn’t read. And over the years, his program has grown and so have the children’s skills.
“So what we’re trying to do now is get our program to a point where our after school is every single day from at least two o’clock to nine o’clock. When they get out of school until their parents get off of work,” Randall explains.
“These kids are outside, and they’re raising themselves, and social media is aiding their termination, in my opinion. These kids are out killing themselves, and it’s not just because they don’t have well-meaning parents or fathers in the home — they’re working all day,” he continues.
“Social media is poison,” Glenn agrees.
And while children have more opportunity than ever, they also have more excuses than ever.
“Our ancestors, especially African-Americans, they went through actual hell,” Randall tells Glenn. “From the Jim Crow era to slavery, they went through true hell. And they were still successful. They still read better than us. I read Booker T. Washington’s book, ‘Up from Slavery’ with the kids, and I’m like, imagine a former slave having a better vocabulary than you do.”
“He got up every day, had to teach himself how to read,” he continues. “We’ve got Wi-Fi, beds, we ain’t got to worry about waking up in the middle of the night ‘cause the Klu Klux Klan’s come to get your grandad or none of that.”
“So I think it’s a slap in the face to my ancestors to be walking around here with all this access to information, books, school, etcetera, and we running around here talking about, 'We hurt, something’s going on.’ Ain't nothing going on, it’s no work ethic,” he adds.
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Georgia AG pushes state Supreme Court to uphold Fani Willis' removal from Trump case
Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (R) urged the state Supreme Court on Monday to uphold a court of appeals decision to remove Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the case against President-elect Donald Trump.
The state-level indictment accused Trump of attempting to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
'Our Attorney General was missing in action.'
Willis was disqualified after she was caught having an affair with special prosecutor Nathan Wade, whom she hired onto the case.
While Wade later stepped down, the appeals court contended that his doing so did not settle the "appearance of impropriety."
"After carefully considering the trial court's findings in its order, we conclude that it erred by failing to disqualify DA Willis and her office," the appeals court ruled.
Willis has pledged to appeal the decision.
On Monday, Carr stated, "The Georgia Court of Appeals has ruled that the Fulton County DA created her own conflict and rightfully removed her from the case against President-elect Trump."
"'Lawfare' has become far too common in American politics, and it must end," he continued. "As such, I would encourage the Georgia Supreme Court to not take her appeal."
"It's our hope that the DA will now focus taxpayer resources on the successful prosecution of violent criminals in Fulton County," Carr added.
Willis responded to Carr's statement, claiming he was a "witness in the case he is trying to influence," the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
She further accused Carr, who is running for governor, of playing politics.
"If Mr. Carr cannot separate his ambition to become Governor from his duties as Attorney General," Willis said, "he should resign and focus on being a full-time candidate rather than serving as a constitutional officer sworn to uphold the Constitutions and laws of the United States and Georgia."
Lt. Gov. Burt Jones (R) also responded to Carr's statement, accusing him of being silent on the Georgia case against Trump for too long.
Jones wrote in a post on X, "I have said for years that Fani Willis orchestrated a political charade against President Trump. When he had opportunities to lead, our Attorney General was missing in action. Where he failed, the Georgia Senate won't. We look forward to holding her accountable at a future hearing."
Willis may be forced to testify before the state Senate for her alleged misconduct in the case.
Last week, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram filed an order ruling that the state Senate can subpoena Willis.
Willis' lawyer, former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes (D), called Ingram's decision "wrong" and noted their plans to appeal.
Defense attorney Ashleigh Merchant, who represented Trump co-defendant Mike Roman and brought the initial motion to recuse Willis from the case, believes that Trump's Department of Justice will open an investigation into Willis' conduct.
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