Georgia’s GOP governor can’t pardon Trump — so Fox News guest wants Republicans to change the law

Conservative activist and former Senate GOP aide Mike Davis in an appearance on Fox News Monday argued that the Georgia legislature should pass a law allowing Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to be able to pardon former President Donald Trump following his election conspiracy indictment by a Georgia grand jury. “Under the Georgia law, there is a statute that limits the Republican governor’s ability to pardon, and I think that the legislature in Georgia needs to amend that statute and give Governor Kemp the ability to pardon in this situation because this is clear election interference,” Davis said.

Though Georgia’s legislature is dominated by Republicans, Mississippi Free Press editor Ashton Pittman noted that implementing Davis’ idea “would require a two-thirds vote in both chambers to amend Georgia’s Constitution, which would then require voters to approve it on a statewide ballot.” Sherrilyn Ifill, former president & director-counsel of NAACP Legal Defense Fund, pointed out that Davis, a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch, “essentially argues that if adhering to the rule of law results in holding Trump to account, Georgia legislators should change their law to allow Gov. Kemp to pardon Trump.” State Rep. Eric Woods, D-Mo., argued that it is “horrifying that the Republican response to these indictments is ‘We should change the law so Trump can be pardoned’ and not ‘If Trump committed crimes, he should be punished.’ That’s the REAL banana republic stuff.”