Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate and voting rights activist, is the one currently calling the shots in the Peach State as he joined a number of Trump allies in slamming GOP Gov. Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
Mr. Gingrich said Ms. Abrams deserves “a lot of credit.”
“She dominates Governor Kemp. She dominates Secretary of State Raffensperger. In effect, they are subsidiaries of Stacey Abrams,” Mr. Gingrich said Monday on Fox News’ “Hannity.” “It’s clear the governor should be asking the state election board to bring Abrams in under oath and find out some of her claims.”
Georgia is in the process of wrapping up a second recount after certified results showed presumptive President-elect Joseph R. Biden win the state over President Trump by about 12,600 votes, or 0.25%.
Mr. Trump has directed his ire this week at Mr. Kemp, calling the Republican governor “hapless” and saying he regrets endorsing him in 2018.
“Do something @BrianKempGA,” the president tweeted on Tuesday. “You allowed your state to be scammed. We must check signatures and count signed envelopes against ballots. Then call off election. It won’t be needed. We will all WIN!”
There are two U.S. Senate runoff contests in Georgia next month that will decide which party controls the chamber in the next Congress.
The president has also said he wants Mr. Kemp to step in and “overrule” Mr. Raffensberger, whose office certified the results last month.
Mr. Kemp’s office says the governor does not have that authority.
The president’s team says there cannot be a true recount unless there’s a signature match done on all absentee ballot applications and absentee ballot envelopes.
Mr. Raffensperger has said the current system already has multiple layers of signature matching in the absentee balloting process.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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