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Trump Congratulates Georgia On Election Law Biden Calls Atrocity

Georgia was again the focus of presidential politics Friday as President Joe Biden blasted a new election law there as an ‘atrocity’ – and former President Donald Trump congratulated the state for changes Democrats are calling an illegal crackdown.

‘Congratulations to Georgia and the Georgia State Legislature on changing their voter Rules and Regulations,’ Trump said in a statement through his Save America PAC.

‘They learned from the travesty of the 2020 Presidential Election, which can never be allowed to happen again. Too bad these changes could not have been done sooner!’ Trump wrote from Mar-a-Lago, where he was pictured golfing Friday.

His comments came after Biden, who defeated him in Georgia by 11,780 votes, once again blasted the new effort by lawmakers in the state to place restrictions on mail voting, curtail voting hours, and throw up other roadblocks.

‘It’s an atrocity. If you want any indication that it has nothing to do with fairness, nothing to do with decency, they passed a law saying you can’t provide water to people standing in line while they’re waiting to vote?’ Biden said as he left the White House Friday.

‘You don’t need anything else to know that this is nothing but punitive, designed to keep people from voting. You can’t provide water for people about to vote. Give me a break,’ he intoned.

In a new statement, Biden called the law ‘Jim Crow in the 21st Century.’

Asked by reporters after flying to Wilmington what his administration could do about the matter, Biden said the ‘Justice Department’s taking a look as well.’ Before a crucial 2013 Supreme Court ruling substantially weakened the law, the Voting Rights Act required southern states with a history of discrimination to obtain ‘pre-clearance’ from Washington before changing their voting laws.

The White House also defended a Georgia state lawmaker who was arrested outside Gov. Brian Kemp’s office while protesting a bill he signed to cut back voting hours and prevent people from giving food or drink to people standing in line to cast a ballot.

State Rep. Park Cannon was hauled off by police officers after banging on the door to the room during Kemp’s ceremony.

‘Anyone who saw that video would have been deeply concerned by the actions that were taken by law enforcement to arrest her when she simply by the video that was provided seemed to be knocking on the door to see if she could watch a bill being signed into law,’ White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Friday.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki also went after the Georgia bill itself, which was enacted following Joe Biden’s win in the state, followed by stunning Senate wins by Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in runoff elections.

‘It should not be harder, it should be easier to vote,’ she said. We shoudl not put limitations in place. People should be able to vote from home, they should be able to use absentee ballots. There should be a range of restrictions that are undone, not put back in place.

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Trump’s praise for Georgia was a new tack – after the elections he repeatedly went after state Republican election officials after multiple recounts failed to change the outcome. He demanded Kemp, a Republican who is up for reelection in 2022, resign.

‘He is an obstructionist who refuses to admit that we won Georgia, BIG!’ Trump tweeted in late December.

During a Jan. 4 rally in Georgia two days before the Capitol riot, Trump vowed to campaign against Kemp, while calling Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger ‘crazy.’

‘I’ll be here in about a year and a half campaigning against your governor, I guarantee you that,’ Trump said. Democrats ended up winning both runoff races.

Vice President Kamala Harris joined the fray Friday with a pitch for the massive Senate voting rights bill that was the subject of a contentious Rules Committee hearing this week.

‘I believe very strongly that Congress needs to pass the For The People Act,’ she said, calling out what she termed ‘abusive practices that we seen from the Georgia Legislature.’

The first black vice president said the law was designed to block ‘whole populations from voting.’

Biden tore into the new law at his debut press conference Thursday, singling out provisions cutting off weekday early voting at 5 pm and prohibiting people from delivering food or water to people standing in line.

One provision of the new law states: ‘nor shall any person give, offer to give, or participate in the giving of any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink, to an elector.’

Volunteers and election workers, however, can set up their own water stations.

Top Democratic lawyers are already vowing to challenge the law as an unconstitutional effort to suppress black voters.

Georgia state troopers were captured on video forcibly removing a Democratic lawmaker from outside Brian Kemp’s office after she attempted to protest the governor’s signing of a bill that overhauls the state’s troubled voting procedures Thursday.

Kemp drew protests as he signed into law the sweeping Republican-sponsored overhaul of state elections that includes greater legislative control over how elections are run.

As Kemp delivered his remarks about the bill, he was interrupted by a commotion before a livestream of the event cut out.

Democratic state Rep. Park Cannon was arrested by Capitol police amid a protest after knocking on the door of the governor’s office during his remarks.

Video captured by a bystander shows … (Read more)

Author: Redstateo bserver Staff

Source: Redstateo bserver : TRUMP ‘CONGRATULATES’ GEORGIA ON ELECTION LAW BIDEN CALLS ‘ATROCITY’