Georgia Republicans have successfully eliminated State Senator Colton Moore, who posed the most significant challenge to Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis.
On Thursday, Senator Moore announced that the state GOP had voted to remove him from their ranks due to his demands for defunding and investigating the district attorney. His calls for such actions stemmed from Willis’s far-reaching RICO indictment, which included former President Donald Trump and 18 of his associates as co-conspirators in an alleged effort to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia.
Moore expressed, “Today’s removal is a direct result of me calling on my Republican colleagues in the Senate to do their job and sign onto an emergency session to investigate Fani Willis. The Georgia Constitution clearly outlines the legislature’s power to call an emergency session to investigate a judicial officer. After urging my Republican Senate colleagues to join me…they responded by acting like children and throwing me out of the caucus.”
Shortly after Willis indicted Trump, Moore petitioned Governor Brian Kemp to convene a special session and summon legislators back to the state Capitol to assess Willis’ actions in the investigation and “determine if they warrant impeachment.” According to state law, a special session can only be convened at the governor’s request or if three-fifths of both legislative chambers jointly demand it. Although Republicans hold majorities in both chambers, their numerical advantage falls short of the three-fifths requirement.
Governor Kemp also signaled his reluctance to take such action, emphasizing in August that while Georgia law permits the removal of local prosecutors who violate their oath, he had not witnessed any evidence to warrant intervention by the Prosecuting Attorney Oversight Commission.
Georgia House Speaker Jon Burns echoed Moore’s demands, arguing that defunding Willis’ office would challenge the principle of separation of powers and possibly infringe upon it.
“A select few are calling to defund a duly elected district attorney of this state and her office in an attempt to interfere with the criminal justice system,” Burns conveyed to his Republican colleagues in an August memo. “It is unfortunate some would knowingly suggest such a reckless course of action despite the devastating effects it would have.”
Despite his expulsion from the Republican ranks, Moore stood by his efforts to scrutinize Willis and claimed that Georgia voters overwhelmingly supported him.
“I stand by my Republican principles. I stand by the Republican platform. I will continue to serve as a Republican Senator from the great state of Georgia,” Moore affirmed. “Unfortunately, now I will be forced to refer to my colleagues, who ran on being ‘Trump conservatives,’ as the RINO caucus,” using the term RINO to denote Republicans in Name Only.
Moore emphasized, “This is the fight of our lifetime, and I will continue to double down to defend the rule of law and do what is right.”
In response, far-right political activist Laura Loomer decried the development as an abomination and reaffirmed her support for Moore. Trump supporter and co-founder of the America First Media Group, Matt Couch, criticized Moore’s removal on social media, stating, “The corruption in the GOP is evident in EVERY single state in America… It’s out of control.”
