A Georgia Senate committee issued a subpoena against former state representative and gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams on Monday (May 11) for a hearing on the New Georgia Project, her now-shuttered voter mobilization group.
The Georgia Senate Special Committee on Investigations announced the subpoena for Abrams and two others: Fair Fight CEO Lauren Groh-Wargo and the former New Georgia Project CEO, Nsé Ufot. The hearing is scheduled for Friday (May 14) at the state Capitol.
According to the Georgia Recorder, the committee's findings relate to the New Georgia Project’s shutdown last fall, particularly citing a $300,000 fine imposed by the State Ethics Commission for violations of Georgia campaign finance laws in 2018 and 2019.
The commission reportedly found that the New Georgia Project did not register as a campaign committee and failed to disclose both $4.2 million in contributions and $3.2 million in expenditures.
“The Ethics Commission uncovered what it described as one of the most significant campaign finance violations in state history,” Sen. Bill Cowsert, who chairs the special committee, said in a statement shared with the outlet. “Our committee intends to determine who was responsible and whether additional reforms or enforcement mechanisms are necessary to protect the public trust and prevent this from ever happening again.”
However, Abrams claimed she transferred ownership of the New Georgia Project before 2018 and has no connection to the actions alleged by the commission.
While she said in a statement released Monday that she would comply and attend the hearing, she decried it as “performative” and a partisan sham intended to intimidate voting rights advocates.
“It is not lost on me that I am being summoned days after the U.S. Supreme Court gutted protections for minority voting power and after I testified against the unconscionable voter suppression process unfolding across several Southern states,” Abrams wrote. “I will comply with the subpoena because it is the law. I will tell the truth because it is the right thing to do. What I will not countenance is partisan officials trying to use our government as a weapon against its people.”
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