Burt Jones' texts show internal GOP rifts over Trump during 2020 election battle

ATLANTA — Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones sent a series of texts critical of fellow Republicans as he worked to help former President Donald Trump overturn his narrow defeat in the weeks following the 2020 election, according to documents obtained through a public records request first reported by The New York Times.

The texts by Jones, who was then a state senator, were gathered by special prosecutor Pete Skandalakis as he investigated whether Jones should be charged in Fulton County’s election interference case for serving as a GOP elector. He decided against seeking charges last week.

Jones is expected to run for governor in 2026 to succeed a term-limited Gov. Brian Kemp, and his messages offer an unvarnished glimpse at the GOP infighting surrounding Trump’s efforts to reverse his election defeat to President Joe Biden in Georgia.

In one exchange on Nov. 7, just four days after the election as Republicans geared up for dual U.S. Senate runoffs, Jones texted about potential election law changes with former state Sen. Josh McKoon, who would soon win election to lead the Georgia GOP.

“Kemp will not call a special session …. that guy,” wrote Jones of the governor, who three days later went public with his decision not to call legislators back to Atlanta for a special legislative session to meet Trump’s demands of overhauling voting rules.

He also chastised Kemp and then-U.S. Sens. Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue for not more forcefully backing Trump. He accused the Republicans of having “abandoned” Trump and said “they have left Trump out to die in the field.”

Aides to Kemp, Loeffler and Perdue didn’t immediately comment late Thursday. Loeffler and Perdue promoted their pro-Trump voting record and supported Trump-backed efforts to block Biden’s victory in Congress, though neither voted to object to the 2020 results.

Kemp’s decision to oppose a special legislative session earned him Trump’s wrath, and the former president recruited Perdue to wage an ill-fated primary challenge against him in 2022. In that race, Perdue said the 2020 contest had been “rigged and stolen.“ Trump recently revived, then backed off, his long-running feud with Kemp.

In a statement, Jones said he turned over thousands of documents and spent hundreds of hours on Skandalakis’ investigation, which found he was operating within his official duties. He said it was “long past time to move on.”

“Comments about others were made at a heated time — we are now all back on the same page working to win this election,” he said.

Skandalakis’ state agency, the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia, was tasked with investigating Jones two years ago after a Fulton judge disqualified District Attorney Fani Willis because of a conflict of interest. Skandalakis, the council’s executive director, had appointed himself to lead the probe this spring.

The Jones texts also took aim at two familiar intraparty foes: Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and then-Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who would strip Jones of his committee chairmanship in January 2021 after he backed Trump’s calls for a special session.

A day after the election, Jones texted then-Georgia GOP chair David Shafer to question “what in the hell is SOS doing.”

His most bracing messages targeted Duncan. He agreed with a Trump ally’s message that called Duncan a “traitor to the party and country.” And he texted a Trump aide that Duncan has “let the LT spot go to his head.”

That was tame by Jones’ standards. More recently, Jones has called him a “minor leaguer,” a “useful idiot” and a “disgrace to Georgia” after becoming one of Vice President Kamala Harris’ most prominent Republican supporters.

In his statement, Jones pointedly stood by his criticism of Duncan, who has brushed aside the attacks.

“He was a prick then and he’s still a prick,” said Jones. “We’re glad he’s found his home with the Democrats.”