Georgia judge rejects Gov. Brian Kemp's effort to quash subpoena in election interference probe

• Georgia prosecutors are investigating interference in the 2020 election by Trump and his allies.
• Kemp has said he is being pursued by the District Attorney for "political purposes."
• Kemp faces Stacey Abrams this fall.

A Georgia judge has rejected Gov. Brian Kemp’s attempt to nullify a subpoena for his testimony before a special grand jury investigating interference in the 2020 election by former President Donald Trump and his allies.

But Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney delayed Kemp's testimony until after the November election as Kemp is in the midst of a reelection campaign against Democrat Stacey Abrams.

Kemp had argued that he was being pursued by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who is leading the criminal inquiry, for “improper political purposes.”

Willis, at an unrelated briefing Monday, said that the judge's decision was "appropriate" and later indicated that "60 percent" of the witnesses needed for the inquiry have already testified.

"I'm pleased with the pace...," Willis said. "I'm very hopeful that by the end of this year, I'll be able to send the grand jury on their way."

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Willis had previously indicated that she had planned on reaching a decision on possible prosecutions by year's end. So far, prosecutors have identified 17 people as potential targets of the inquiry, including a group who served as alternate Trump electors and Rudy Guiliani, the former president's personal attorney.

The governor's attorneys, meanwhile, had asserted that local prosecutors “engineered the governor’s interaction with the investigation to reach a crescendo in the middle of an election cycle.”

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Kemp’s attorneys said the governor had agreed to a “voluntary” July 25 interview but claimed that interview was canceled and a subpoena issued after Kemp’s lawyers inquired about the scope of the interview.

While the judge characterized the negotiations for Kemp's testimony as "tortured," he said Kemp was, nevertheless, obliged to appear before the investigative panel.

"The Governor must honor the subpoena – as have the Secretary of State and the Attorney General and many other agents of the State in these criminal proceedings," McBurney wrote, referring to a number of high-profile officials who have been summoned.

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"Sovereign immunity wards off civil actions, not criminal ones."

Kemp, however, is hardly the only witness who has sought to quash a summons.

A federal judge could rule as soon as this week on whether Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., should be forced to appear.

Graham's attorneys have argued that the lawmaker is shielded from such scrutiny by legislative privilege.

John Eastman, the Trump lawyer who pushed efforts to assemble fake slates of Trump electors to subvert President Joe Biden's victory in key battleground states, is expected to testify Tuesday after losing a separate bid to quash the subpoena.

Prosecutors expect to question Eastman about a Dec. 3, 2020 appearance before the Georgia State Senate in which the lawyer referred to the plan to assemble electors to support Trump.

The Trump attorney, according to court documents, told lawmakers that they had a “duty” to replace the slate of Democratic Party electors, citing unfounded claims of voter fraud in the state. 

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