Kemp testifies before grand jury

ATLANTA — Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp testified for roughly three hours Tuesday before the Fulton County special grand jury examining whether former President Donald Trump and his allies criminally meddled in the state’s 2020 elections.

The Republican, who cruised to re-election last week, is the highestranking state official to

appear before the 23-person grand jury, which was convened in May to aid Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis with her criminal investigation.

Kemp’s closed-door testimony came hours before

attorneys for another witness, Michael Flynn, were

set to argue that a Sarasota, Florida, judge should reject a Fulton County

summons seeking to compel the former Trump national security adviser to travel to Atlanta.

Willis’ “assertion that Gen. Flynn is a material witness is based on nothing more than innuendo, speculation, and hearsay,” Flynn’s lawyer, Jared J. Roberts, wrote in a Monday court filing.

The maneuvering came as the grand jury ramped up its public activities following a monthlong quiet period before the November elections.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham and former White House counsel Eric Herschmann are expected to testify in the days ahead, and CNN has reported that former White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson is slated to appear Wednesday. Hutchinson’s attorney did not return a request for comment.

Meanwhile, another witness, former Georgia Congressman and House Speaker Newt Gingrich, moved to appeal a recent Virginia judge’s ruling that compelled him to testify in Georgia.

In downtown Atlanta, Kemp entered the Fulton courthouse through an underground entrance, bypassing the reporters assembled in the brisk, drizzly weather. His office declined to make him available afterward for an interview.

His blockbuster appearance represented a hard-fought victory for the DA’s office, which had been angling for Kemp’s testimony for a year and a half.

Kemp had been ordered to appear “some date soon after” the election by a Fulton Superior Court judge in August.

He’s considered a central witness to the investigation, which Willis launched in February 2021.

In late 2020, Kemp faced a barrage of attacks from Trump and his allies after he refused their calls to illegally convene a special session of the state legislature to undo Democrat Joe Biden’s narrow victory in Georgia. Kemp said that state law barred him from “interfering.”

Kemp subsequently became a frequent punching bag at Trump rallies. The president said he was “ashamed” to have endorsed Kemp in 2018, and recruited former U.S. Sen. David Perdue to wage

an ultimately doomed primary challenge against

him.