ATLANTA — The Georgia General Assembly remains divided about next steps after the indictment of former President Donald Trump.
Following the former president’s arrival at, and then exit from, the Fulton County Jail for his arrest’s booking photo and processing, a variety of GOP members pushed to find a way to take action against the District Attorney responsible, Fani Willis.
Georgia Sen. Colton Moore led a charge via a letter to Gov. Brian Kemp requesting a special legislative session to impeach Willis.
House Speaker Jon Burns is not as supportive, according to a letter he sent to lawmakers Wednesday.
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Burns chose the day Hurricane Idalia bears down on Florida and Georgia to both call for prayers for those in harm’s way and tell Georgia’s Republican Caucus that some members’ claims about what the General Assembly can do are misleading our outright false.
The letter states in part, that “we continue to have a few members of the General Assembly making misleading or false claims about the General Assembly’s lawful powers regarding an ongoing criminal case before our Judiciary.”
Burns called it an unfortunate part of modern politics, saying that “theatrics sometimes garner more attention than genuine human needs,” such as what residents in south and coastal Georgia are facing amidst Idalia’s trajectory.
Additionally, the Speaker said efforts to defund Willis’ office directly would both interfere with the criminal justice system in Georgia at large, but have impacts across the state.
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“Regardless of your views of this case, removing this funding would also have the unintended consequence of causing a delay or complete lack of prosecution of other serious offenses, like murder, rape, armed robbery, gang prosecution, battery, etc.,” Burns said in part.
He went further, telling his colleagues in the caucus that if they truly have concerns about crime in the Atlanta area, their idea to defund Willis’ office, and her staff, would be harmful to public safety, as well as require legislative action to change the Georgia budget. Burns noted that DA’s office salaries and funding were formula-based, meaning that to defund one would be to defund all by default.
“Targeting one specific DA in this manner certainly fl[outs] the idea of the separation of powers, if not outright violates it,” Burns warned. “We as members of the General Assembly have sworn to uphold the Constitution of the State of Georgia, these United States and the laws thereof.”
In closing, Burns’ letter said lawmakers should trust the criminal justice system will deal with the matter impartially and fairly, and they would not directly intervene in “contradiction to the oaths we took,” and sharing his prayers for safety in the storm that is Hurricane Idalia.
While Moore and some of his fellows in the Georgia Assembly have made moves to act against Willis, they’re not alone.
Separately, the U.S. House GOP’s members have opted to open their own investigation into Willis as a result of the former president’s indictment.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Rep. Jim Jordan announced the launch of an inquiry into Wilis, working to determine if Willis’ indictment of the president and his 18 co-defendants had been in coordination with federal officials.
Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also said Willis should lose her job.
As reported by the Associated Press, the Georgia General Assembly hasn’t held impeachment proceedings in more than 50 years, and that since Republicans do not have the full two-thirds majority required to convict Willis in the state Senate, they would have to get help from Georgia Democrats to pull it off.
Additionally, to call a special session without the governor’s authority, both chambers of the Assembly would need to have a three-fifths majority, also requiring some Democratic support.
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