High-ranked swing state Republican delivers 'blow' to Trump-blessed election board: Report

A high-ranking Georgia Republican delivered a blow to the Trump-backed state election board in his state, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's Greg Bluestein reported Monday.

Attorney General Chris Carr told Georgia election board officials in a new ruling that he will not be reopening an investigation into the recount of Fulton County ballots in 2020, Bluestein reported.

"The Attorney General serves as the sole legal counsel to the Executive Branch of state government, does not have a legal conflict in doing so and further is not required to engage other counsel at the direction of a client," stated Carr in his issued opinion.

"The State Election Board is not empowered to direct the Attorney General to conduct an investigation under Title 21 whether on his own or through outside investigators. The Election Code does not empower the attorney general to act on his own as an investigator beyond the limited context of a referral of a case to the Attorney General for potential criminal prosecution."

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Bluestein described the opinion as "a blow to the right-wing majority that voted to ask for the probe."

The directive to reopen the Fulton County investigation was one of multiple controversial decisions made by the State Election Board, whose new members — Rick Jeffares, Janice Johnston and Janelle King — were appointed under reported pressure from former President Donald Trump.

The appointments came despite objections of the rest of the board, which includes a Republican appointed by Gov. Brian Kemp.

The board recently raised concerns by declaring local county officials have discretionary authority to refuse to certify ballot counts, which experts say flies in the face of longstanding precedent that they have only a ministerial role.

Legal experts have raised concerns that such rules could open the door to pro-Trump county officials paralyzing Georgia from certifying results if Trump does not win in 2024.

Some have said that the Trump-backed board members violated the law by both reinterpreting county election powers and not opening the meetings where they made these decisions to the public.

Jeffares has said he thinks Trump did not legitimately lose the election in 2020, and suggested himself as a potential member of a future Trump administration, possibly as Environmental Protection Agency director.