Gov. Brian Kemp will deliver testimony next month to Fulton County prosecutors investigating Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn Georgia’s 2020 elections, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has learned.
But unlike the parade of witnesses who have appeared at the Fulton courthouse to answer questions in front of a special grand jury, the Republican will instead deliver a “sworn recorded statement,” according to a letter from the Fulton County District Attorney’s office dated Wednesday and obtained by the AJC on Thursday.
In the letter to Kemp’s attorney, Nathan Wade, a special prosecutor hired by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to help with the investigation, said the DA’s office agreed to the terms “in a spirit of cooperation with the Governor and his schedule.”
Kemp’s sworn examination will take place on July 25.
The 23-member special grand jury also subpoenaed a bevy of evidence from Kemp’s office, which Wade said must be made available at least 72 hours before the governor’s scheduled testimony.
Among the requested documents is anything that “represents, explains, and provides context” about the Nov. 2020 elections and the 60 days after, the certification of Georgia’s presidential electors on Jan. 6 and rally held at the Capitol that day.
Jurors are also seeking any documents that shed light on what then-President Trump and his associates were thinking and doing as they sought to reverse Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow win in Georgia, including telephone logs, emails, texts and other correspondence.
“The attached subpoena has as its primary purpose the examination of the conduct of former President Donald Trump, and those working on his behalf,” Wade wrote in the letter. “Also, the District Attorney’s primary interest is to discover what witnesses and documents are available that will explain what was being said and done regarding the 2020 presidential election and the efforts to replace the constitutionally elected electors.”
A Kemp spokeswoman confirmed receipt of the subpoena but said the governor’s office would not comment further.
Kemp is expected to be one of the investigation’s most high-profile witnesses. Several other state elected officials, including Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and Attorney General Chris Carr, have already testified before the special grand jury.
Kemp drew Trump’s ire for refusing his repeated illegal requests to call for a special session of the state legislature to undo Biden’s win in Georgia. Kemp said that state law blocked him from “interfering” with the election.
As a result, Trump repeatedly lambasted Kemp at rallies and other public events, saying he was “ashamed” to have endorsed him at 2018. Trump recruited former U.S. Sen. David Perdue to levy an ultimately unsuccessful primary challenge against the governor and spent millions from his PAC to on attack ads.
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