News Today: Brian Kemp Baselessly Claims FBI 'Looking For Information' About Democratic Volunteer on Voter Protection Hotline

Kemp launched a cybercrimes "investigation" into the Georgia Democratic Party on the eve of the election. His supposed evidence for doing so is flimsy.

On the weekend before the gubernatorial election in Georgia, Brian Kemp — the GOP nominee for governor who also happens to be the state's chief elections secretary — opened an "investigation" into the Georgia Democratic Party in connection with a cybersecurity breach of the state voter registry.

Democrats immediately cried foul, noting Kemp has offered no evidence for his claims and pointing out the massive conflict of interest in Kemp launching an investigation into the people he is running against in his own election campaign.

On Sunday, Kemp's office finally texted a purported connection between the Georgia Democratic Party and the hacking attempt to local Atlanta reporter Aaron Diamant:

BREAKING: Just got this text from Georgia Secretary of State office official...

"The FBI is looking for information on 'Rachel Small...'" after bombshell announcement its investigating @GeorgiaDemocrat Party for "failed cyberattack" on State's voter registration system. @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/tYlODB6KV4

— Aaron Diamant (@AaronDiamantWSB) November 4, 2018

But in no time, Georgia Democrats fired back:

BREAKING: Team Kemp is losing their minds. Rachel Small is a volunteer for the Democratic Party of Georgia on our voter protection hotline. She received an email from a man named Richard Wright. She forwarded Richard's email to our voter protection director. Sorry, @BrianKempGA. https://t.co/eogwmEZ2X0

— Georgia Democrat (@GeorgiaDemocrat) November 4, 2018

Late on Sunday night, the party released a more detailed statement:

This is yet another example of abuse of power by an unethical Secretary of State. To be very clear, Brian Kemp's scurrilous claims are 100 percent false, and this so-called investigation was unknown to the Democratic Party of Georgia until a campaign operative in Kemp's official office released a statement this morning. This political stunt from Kemp just days before the election is yet another example of why he cannot be trusted and should not be overseeing an election in which he is also a candidate for governor. It is also a fact that Brian Kemp is the last person who can be trusted on cyber security given his record of leaking the personal information and social security numbers of six million Georgians. 11th hour, cynical ploys come as no surprise from Brian Kemp, a man who raided the offices of organizations who register people to vote and had a woman arrested for helping her blind father cast his ballot. Brian Kemp is desperate to save his failing campaign, and it's likely we'll see even more of his abuses of power as the election nears, but Georgians will keep working hard, knocking on doors, making phone calls, and voting to make sure he doesn't get a promotion.

Kemp's actions as secretary of state have increasingly come into question as he struggles to fend off gubernatorial opponent Stacey Abrams, who is seeking to be the first ever African-American woman governor in America, and who is currently polling in a dead heat. Kemp's "exact match" verification policy, which stood to void the ballots of thousands of mostly minority voters, was just smacked down in federal court.

Kemp has rebuffed calls on him to resign or recuse himself from his elections role, calling it "ridiculous."

 

Related Stories

• Jimmy Carter Calls on Brian Kemp to Resign over Voter Suppression Complaints
• 'Jim Crow Would Blush': Al Sharpton Says the GOP's Voter Suppression in Georgia Is 'As Tainted as You Can Get'
• Republican Official Caught Purging Tens of Thousands of Black Voters from His Own Election for Governor

from AlterNet.org Main RSS Feed https://ift.tt/2JK4TtG
News Today: Brian Kemp Baselessly Claims FBI 'Looking For Information' About Democratic Volunteer on Voter Protection Hotline