Georgia Republican leaders side with Donald Trump in spat with Ukraine

House Speaker Jon Burns said Trump’s extraordinary rebuke of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy sent a “clear message that the days of handouts and blank checks from the United States are over.”

Lt. Gov. Burt Jones said Trump was “100% right” to dress down Zelenskyy at the explosive White House meeting. And U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Rome, labeled the Ukrainian leader a “bad actor from the start.”

Russia invaded Ukraine three years ago. Since then, Trump has complained that the U.S. has spent too much money supporting Ukraine. Hoping to assuage those concerns, Zelenskyy had traveled to the White House last week to sign a deal with Trump giving the U.S. access to some of Ukraine’s rare earth minerals.

Credit: AP

Credit: AP

Instead, Zelenskyy left the White House without signing the deal after a televised heated exchange in the Oval Office.

The incident prompted hundreds of people to gather in downtown Atlanta on Sunday to demand greater support for Ukraine. They included Oleksii Shumskyi, whose parents and brother are in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. He called on Trump to acknowledge Russia as the aggressor.

“Day to day, there are sirens, air attacks, kids having to study where there is easy access to bunkers to be protected from shelling,” he said.

On Sunday, Republicans in Congress and White House officials went on news shows to demand Zelenskyy show more gratitude to the U.S. and consider concessions to Russia that could end the war.

But former Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, exiled by the Georgia GOP for opposing Trump, said his party shouldn’t instinctively rally behind the president.

“You couldn’t invent a more efficient way to destroy our country or the world,” Duncan said.

“Trump will go down in history as the worst decision this country has ever made.”

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GOOD MORNING! It’s crossover week in the Georgia Legislature. The deadline for bills to pass their house of origin is Thursday. The pressure is picking up in the Senate, where bills must clear committee by 1 p.m. today to be considered before the crossover deadline.

Here are three other things to know for today:

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Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

CARTER CALLOUT. Democratic state Sen. Jason Esteves has introduced a measure requesting the removal of an Alexander Stephens figure from the National Statuary Hall in the U.S. Capitol and replace it with the likeness of the late President Jimmy Carter.

The Atlanta Democrat, a potential candidate for governor, said replacing a white supremacist who was the vice president of the Confederacy with a statue of the former president would help burnish his legacy.

“Now more than ever, a statue of President Carter to commemorate his commitment to human rights and public service would serve as a much-needed reminder for leaders in Washington,” he said.

A prominent Georgia politician, Stephens was a secessionist who was elected vice president of the Confederacy in 1861. In his infamous “Cornerstone Speech,” he called slavery the “natural and normal condition” of Black people.

Each state gets two statues in Statuary Hall, and Stephens has represented Georgia since 1927. Georgia’s other honoree, Crawford W. Long, was a 19th century physician who pioneered the use of ether in surgery.

A bust of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. later added to the Capitol in the 1980s by an act of Congress, but it’s not one of the state’s two official statues.

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Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC

Credit: Steve Schaefer/AJC

VETERAN BENEFITS. Proposals aiming to protect injured soldiers from fraud have turned into a big fight in the Georgia Legislature.

On one side are the private companies who charge veterans a fee to help them apply for disability benefits. On the other are the veterans service organizations who do the same thing, but free of charge.

Lawmakers want to place restrictions on these private companies to make sure they don’t take advantage of veterans desperate for help. But the service organizations, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, say these companies shouldn’t be allowed to operate in the first place.

“It’s an earned benefit. We’re not, as veterans, in a commercial commodity,” said Charles Dobbins, state adjutant for the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Georgia.

Supporters argue there are way more veterans than services available, and these private companies give soldiers more choices.

“The last thing we want to do is see any veteran taken advantage of,” said Benjamin Tipton, who works for Veterans Guardian, a claim consulting company.

The House easily passed a bill last month that would, among other things, set limits on how much the companies can charge and also require them to tell veterans that free counseling services are available.

But a similar proposal has stalled in the state Senate. Sen. Chuck Payne, R-Dalton, decided to hold Senate Bill 73 after opposition from veterans service organizations.

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Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

Credit: Nathan Posner for the AJC

FOR THE RECORD. We told you last week about how a state senator’s bill got held in committee after U.S. Rep. Rich McCormick made a phone call to the chairman.

But McCormick told us that wasn’t his intent. The Suwanee Republican said he wasn’t telling lawmakers what to do. Instead, he said he urged caution about rushing to regulate artificial intelligence.

“I didn’t say you should or you shouldn’t. That’s none of my business,” he said. “I’m a big federalist. I believe in state’s rights.”

Policymakers face challenges with AI as the fast-moving technology disrupts established industries. McCormick said laws should be written carefully so as not to stifle development, especially as the U.S. competes with China for digital supremacy.

“I have not read his bill. But my concern was that it doesn’t do something to put Georgia or this great nation at a disadvantage for AI development,” McCormick said. “I think he probably took that maybe in a different meaning than it was intended, although maybe it’s good to take a pause and make sure everybody does read that bill.”

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Credit: AP

Credit: AP

GEORGIA CONNECTION. One reason the Trump administration was able to move so quickly to cull the federal workforce was because a Georgian gave them access to computer systems within the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, The Wall Street Journal reported last week.

Chuck Ezell grew up in Georgia, where he is a ruling elder of a church associated with the Presbyterian Church in America (PCA). Ezell was a mid-level staffer at OPM, which has a big office in central Georgia, when he got a call from one of the president’s advisers.

“All of a sudden, I was offered the opportunity to serve as the acting director of OPM,” Ezell told byFaith, a PCA magazine. “I humbly accepted the opportunity to serve America and the president in this way.”

The Journal reported that shortly after gaining access to the computer systems, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency initiative sent an email to federal workers, urging many of them to quit or else risk getting laid off.

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Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

Credit: Arvin Temkar/AJC

CONSOLING ATLANTA. Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens' State of the City address last week included a not-so-subtle swipe at President Donald Trump.

“And when they try to tell us that diversity and inclusion are something to run away from, we will fight back and show them that our diversity is what makes us strongest,” Dickens said.

Trump, via the work of Elon Musk, has worked quickly to rid the federal government of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, including laying off workers devoted to those programs.

But in an appearance on the “Politically Georgia” podcast last week, Dickens said his goal was not to trash Trump.

“I’m not trying to poke a bear. I’m trying to console the public,” he said. “I’m not shaking my fist or thumbing my nose at the administration of the White House at all. What I’m doing is reminding Atlanta of who we are.”

Dickens’ interview was part of our last show broadcast live on 90.1 FM WABE. Going forward, the show will be available as a podcast on on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or other platforms.

Listen to our audio trailer for more details.

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Credit: Adam Beam/AJC

Credit: Adam Beam/AJC

UNDER THE GOLD DOME. It’s the 26th day of the legislative session. Some happenings:

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Credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

Credit: Jacquelyn Martin/AP

TODAY IN WASHINGTON:

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Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

CRYPTO COLLINS. U.S. Rep. Mike Collins is among the members of Congress who are experimenting with accepting cryptocurrency as a campaign contribution. There is a prominent “donate with crypto” button now at the top of his website.

“I hope that by introducing this platform, I can destigmatize the crypto industry and advance the future of global finance and innovation,” the Jackson Republican said. “If our nation is going to continue to be competitive in the global financial system, we must adapt.”

Collins is a crypto trader who often posts about the topic on social media. On Sunday, he applauded President Donald Trump for announcing the creation of a U.S. Crypto Reserve and pledge to make the nation the “Crypto Capital of the World.”

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Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC

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AS ALWAYS, send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.beam@ajc.com.