Geoff Duncan, former lieutenant governor of Georgia, had harsh words for Donald Trump offering his testimony in the Fulton County grand jury investigation into the former president’s attempts to overturn the 2020 election results in the state.
The former official argued it was time for the Republican party to move on from Mr Trump.
“Politically speaking, this is a pivot point for this country to do something more than just stew on the 2020 election cycle,” he told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “We’re either going to, as Republicans, take our medicine and realise the election wasn’t rigged and Donald Trump was the worst candidate ever, in the history of our party, even worse than [US Senate candidate] Herschel Walker.”
“We want to win an election in 2024,” he added. “It’s going to have to be somebody other than Donald Trump.”
The Fulton County indicted Mr Trump with 13 felony charges on Monday, including RICO, conspiracy to commit forgery, filing false documents, Solicitation of Violation of Oath by Public Officer and more.
In addition, 18 Trump associates have also been indicted, including former White House chief of staff mark Meadows and former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Mr Trump railed against the Georgia official on Monday.
"I am reading reports that failed former Lt. Governor of Georgia, Jeff Duncan, will be testifying before the Fulton County Grand Jury," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
"He shouldn’t,” the former president added. “I barely know him but he was, right from the beginning of this Witch Hunt, a nasty disaster for those looking into the Election Fraud that took place in Georgia."
Mr Duncan was one of the rare Republican officials to affirm the results of the 2020 election, and he condemned Mr Trump in 2021 for a call to Georgia officials pressuring them to “find” enough votes for Mr Trump to win the state.
“I am 100 per cent certified to tell you that it was inappropriate. And it certainly did not help the situation,” he told CNN. “It was based on misinformation, it was based on, you know, all types of theories that have been debunked and disproved over the course of the last 10 weeks.”
