WASHINGTON, D.C. — Despite a late-night tweet in which President Donald Trump attacked Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp and called on him to declare a special session in the hopes of overturning election results in the state, Georgia's Elecoral College vote went off without a hitch on Monday and the state awarded all 16 of its votes to president-elect Joe Biden.
In a tweet early Monday morning, Trump called Kemp both a "fool" and a "clown," Trump wrote that his supporters should demand the governor “call a Special Session and open up signature verification, NOW.”
Without proof, Trump claimed that if the state legislator doesn’t call a special session in an attempt to appoint new Electoral College voters in his favor, it could negatively affect the GOP’s chances of holding on to their two U.S. Senate seats in Georgia’s runoff elections.
“Otherwise, could be a bad day for two GREAT Senators on January 5th,” wrote Trump.
Georgia’s two Senate seats will determine which party controls the chamber come next year. Democrats would need to win both seat to take control back.
Despite the threats, Georgia convened its noon ET Electoral College vote and granted all 16 votes to Biden. That vote was held without incident or interruption.
However, while Georgia electors were casting their ballots, Republican electors held their own vote in a separate room of the Capitol, according to the Washington Post and WSB-TV, wrongly claiming that the election has yet to be decided. That vote is inconsequential and will have no legal bearing.
The next big date in the 2020 election will be Jan. 6, when the House and Senate will hold a joint session to count the electoral votes. Biden will then be sworn in on Jan. 20, Inauguration Day.
Trump’s tweet is only the latest in the ongoing feud between him and the governor. The Washington Post detailed the feud in an article Monday that says Trump is “furious with Kemp for not heeding his calls to question the integrity of the state’s election results." Since the election, The Post reports Trump has berated Kemp on phone calls and said the governor was losing all his popularity for not fully supporting him.
Last week, Georgia recertified President-elect Joe Biden won the state after multiple recounts showed the Democrat defeated Trump by more than 11,000 votes. Even if Trump was able to somehow overturn the Georgia election in his favor, he would still be far behind Biden in electoral votes.
