Georgia governor files motion to quash subpoena in state’s 2020 probe

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) asked a judge on Wednesday to quash a subpoena requiring the governor to appear before the special grand jury investigating whether former President Trump attempted to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.

Kemp cited, among other reasons, that the probe is “being pursued at this time for improper political purposes,” according to a filing. 

“Through delay and artificial deadlines, the DA’s Office has engineered the Governor’s interaction with the investigation to reach a crescendo in the middle of an election cycle,” Kemp’s lawyers allege in the motion, noting that “this timing cannot be ignored.”

Kemp was slated to appear before the special grand jury on Aug. 18, but he was released from the obligation pending a judge’s decision on the motion to quash, according to a spokesperson.

“With the special grand jury empaneled until May 2023, we are simply asking the judge to allow the Governor to come in after the November election and direct investigators to work with our legal team to ensure the topics discussed during his appearance remains on his defense of state law and the Constitution in the aftermath of the 2020 election,” the spokesperson for Kemp told The Hill in an email.

The spokesperson said the time before the November midterms was insufficient to prepare, appear and “provide a full accounting of his very limited role in the issues being looked at by the special grand jury.”

Endorsed by Trump in 2018, Kemp reportedly resisted pleas from the then-president to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.

Kemp is up for reelection in this year’s midterms and beat his Trump-backed challenger earlier this year to clinch the Georgia GOP gubernatorial nomination. His Democrat challenger is Stacey Abrams, whom Kemp beat in 2018.

According to his legal team, Kemp initially agreed to a July interview with the special grand jury, which was canceled after the governor’s legal team asked about “the scope of that interview.”

Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis (D) subpoenaed the Georgia governor along with former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R), Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Rep. Jody Hice (R-Ga.), and lawyers John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and Cleta Mitchell.

Giuliani testified Wednesday after attempts by his lawyers to delay his testimony. He was reportedly told he was a main focus of Willis’s probe.

Graham and Hice have also attempted to challenge their subpoenas.

The Hill has reached out to Kemp’s legal team and Willis’s office for comment. 

–Updated on August 18 at 1:40 p.m.