A rift has formed between Georgia Republicans regarding an effort to defund or impeach Fulton Count District Attorney Fani Willis over her criminal indictment of former President Donald Trump.
Willis earlier this month indicted Trump and 18 co-defendants on felony charges related to an alleged plot to illegally overturn the outcome of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, which Trump lost to President Joe Biden by 11,779 votes. Trump has denied any wrongdoing, claiming to be the victim of political "persecution."
Republican state Senator Colton Moore has been raging against Willis in the weeks since the indictments, demanding that Georgia Governor Brian Kemp declare an emergency legislative session with the purpose of investigating, defunding and attempting to impeach Willis.
Kemp, a Republican who has been a frequent target of Trump over refusing to back discredited election fraud conspiracy theories, has opposed the call to declare a special session, saying during a press conference on Thursday that it was "not feasible and may ultimately prove to be unconstitutional."
Moore lashed out at Kemp in a statement issued hours after the press conference, accusing the governor of "not being honest with the people of Georgia" and "allowing his disdain for President Trump to cloud his judgment." He also claimed that Kemp has the "clear power to call an emergency session" over Willis.
"As the corrupt Fulton County DA continues to target Donald Trump... I only have one question for the Governor: When are you going to stand with the people of Georgia and convene the emergency session that your constituents are demanding?" Moore added.
When asked for comment on Moore's statement, a spokesperson for Kemp told Newsweek, "The governor's remarks earlier today speaks for itself."
During his press conference, Kemp rejected the special session call and said that he did not "see anything legally that I think [Willis] has done" that would even warrant an investigation.
Kemp did not explicitly name Moore but mentioned an "individual in the general assembly" who was demanding "a special session that would ignore current Georgia law and directly interfere with the proceedings of a separate but equal branch of government."
"In Georgia, we will not be engaging in political theater that only inflames the emotions of the moment," Kemp added. "We will do what is right. We will uphold our oaths as public servants, and it's my belief that our state will be better off for it."
Kemp is far from the only Republican in Georgia opposed to Moore's demand to use the legislature to investigate and potentially punish Willis.
On Wednesday, state House Speaker Jon Burns denounced the effort "to defund a duly-elected district attorney of this state and her office in an attempt to interfere with the criminal justice system" in a letter to the GOP caucus.
A letter posted to the Facebook page of GOP state Senator Bo Hatchett on Sunday informed voters that Republicans "do not have a sufficient majority to call a special session," while accusing Moore of attempting "to sell a false reality to voters" about Republicans' ability to punish Willis.
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Georgia Republican Party via email on Thursday.
During an appearance on former Trump adviser Steve Bannon's War Room podcast on Tuesday, Moore claimed that the U.S. was risking "civil war" if Willis was not defunded, warning that he might be forced to "draw [his] rifle" due to angry Trump supporters "fighting it in the streets" if his demands were not met.
Moore also claimed that Republicans "have the legislative authority to call in the state troopers and bring these people in," while denouncing his less enthusiastic colleagues for allegedly being "totally afraid" of Kemp and making "every excuse in the book" to not back the call for a special session.
