The Georgia National Guard remains on alert in the wake of a deadly political protest in Washington D.C. Governor Brian Kemp extended his executive order activating the Guard. In a press conference Wednesday, Kemp said Guard troops “will be called up as needed,” adding, “I feel confident that they will not.”
Four people died and at least fourteen police officers were injured after pro-Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, CBS Baltimore reports. A Capitol Police Officer shot one woman outside the House chamber. She later died at the hospital. Three others, including a woman and two men, died after suffering “medical emergencies,” Washington, D.C., police said.
Police did not identify the woman who was fatally shot but said she was a civilian.
One of the injured officers is in serious condition after he was pulled into a crowd of demonstrators and assaulted, according to officials. Another officer sustained facial injuries after he was struck by a projectile.
Denouncing Guiliani
The violence followed a pro-Trump rally outside of the White House during which the President and his lawyer Rudy Guiliani spoke. Kemp, who Trump has berated for weeks for not overturning Georgia’s presidential election results, denounced the violence and denounced Guiliani for inciting it.
“Rudy Guiliani saying, quote, ‘Trial by combat,’ end quote, is simply outrageous, and there is simply no place for that in our nation,” Kemp said.
“It is unimaginable that we have people in our state and in our country that have been threatening police officers, breaking into government buildings,” the governor said. “This is not the Georgia way and it is not the way of our country.”
Kemp called what happened in D.C. “a disgrace” and “unAmerican.” He contrasted the situation with protests that occurred in Georgia last year.
“We had peaceful protests all summer long allowing people to let their voice be heard on an array of issues that we had going on in our state and in our country at that time, but we certainly did not allow anarchy and we will not allow that now here in the state of Georgia.”
Raffensperger escorted from office
As Kemp spoke inside the State Capitol, about 150 protesters stood on the sidewalk outside waving Trump and American flags. Law enforcement escorted Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger from the building as a precaution, his office confirmed.
Trump has targeted Raffensperger with a barrage of criticism and political threats ever since the Secretary certified Georgia’s presidential election results, declaring Biden the winner. A leaked phone call between the two over the weekend lit a political firestorm, as Trump could be heard asking Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” to reverse the results in his favor.
Raffensperger, also a Republican, has continued to fight back against the President’s unproven claims of widespread election fraud in the state. His top deputies also continue to debunk those claims and went so far Wednesday as to blame the President for the GOP’s Senate runoff defeats on Tuesday.
Gabriel Sterling and Jordan Fuchs both said they believe Trump’s relentless attacks on Georgia’s electoral process and officials suppressed the GOP vote. Of the three Republican candidates on the January 5 ballot, only one won reelection.
Habersham County resident Bubba McDonald was reelected to the Public Service Commission, defeating Democrat Daniel Blackman by a comfortable margin. McDonald’s vote totals exceeded those of former Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, indicating many Republicans were dissuaded from voting for them.
Kemp used the situation in Washington as a cautionary tale for Georgia lawmakers.
“For those of you that have been calling on a special session [to consider overturning the election results] you can now see what that would have looked like.”
Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan said the clash in the nation’s capital was “an incredibly sobering reminder of how truly delicate our democracy really is. It is also a reminder of how dangerous it is when people in power act as if they’re more important than that democracy.”
