President Trump reportedly called Georgia’s attorney general, a Republican, to urge him not to rally other GOP attorneys general in opposition to a lawsuit from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) seeking to invalidate the presidential election results in four states.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the call took place Tuesday evening after Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr (R) called the arguments laid out by Paxton in his lawsuit “constitutionally, morally, and factually wrong” in a statement the same day.
The call reportedly occurred at the urging of one of Georgia’s senators, David Perdue (R), who along with fellow Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R) announced their support for Paxton’s lawsuit this week.
In his own calls with Loeffler, Trump was “furious” about Carr’s remarks, sources familiar with the calls told the newspaper.
The president has also publicly disparaged his former ally, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R), in recent days over Kemp’s refusal to call a special session of Georgia’s legislature to reject their state’s election results.
At a rally in Georgia on Saturday, the president blasted Kemp over his supposed betrayal on the issue of his election defeat and suggested that Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.), who unsuccessfully ran for Senate this year, primary Kemp in 2022.
“I want to thank Doug Collins. Thank you, Doug. What a job he does,” Trump told his supporters, which erupted in applause after he then asked: “Doug, you want to run for governor in two years?”
“He’d be a good-looking governor,” Trump went on to tell the crowd.
The president has launched legal efforts in several states, Georgia included, in recent weeks in the hopes of overturning the 2020 election results. His efforts have gained no traction thus far.