Georgia Senate panel subpoenas Stacey Abrams to testify
A Georgia Senate Committee that spent the last two years investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis has moved on to Stacey Abrams.
The committee issued a subpoena for Abrams to testify at a Friday hearing. It’s investigating campaign finance violations by two groups founded by Abrams.
“Georgia law requires transparency and accountability in our elections,” Sen. Greg Dolezal, D-Cumming, the committee’s vice chair and a candidate for lieutenant governor, said in a statement late Monday. “The people of Georgia deserve to know who was involved, what decisions were made and how millions of dollars flowed through organizations that admitted to violating our campaign finance laws.”
Abrams, who ran as the Democratic candidate for governor in 2018 and 2022, blasted the committee in her own statement but signaled she will testify, though perhaps not on Friday.
“Today, the Georgia State Senate delivered a subpoena for me to testify in a partisan, performative hearing designed to intimidate and disarm voting rights advocates across Georgia and the nation,” Abrams said. “Despite the hollow, cynical intent, I will indeed do so on a mutually agreeable date.”
Abrams’ testimony would be another marquee moment for the Senate Special Committee on Investigations, founded two years ago to investigate Willis, the Fulton County district attorney who charged President Donald Trump and 18 others with various crimes for their roles in trying to overturn Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Willis was later disqualified because of her romance with a special prosecutor in the case, and a judge dismissed the remaining charges last fall. Willis resisted testifying to the Senate panel but ultimately delivered a combative performance last December.
Now, the panel has turned its attention to Abrams.
Last year the Senate charged the committee with investigating the actions of the voting rights groups New Georgia Project and the New Georgia Project Action Fund, both founded by Abrams. In January 2025 they admitted to illegally supporting Abrams’ 2018 campaign for governor.
The groups raised and spent millions of dollars to support Abrams without registering as political committees or disclosing their activities. They agreed to pay a $300,000 civil penalty — the largest fine levied for campaign finance violations in Georgia history.
“No one is above the law in Georgia,” Lt. Gov. Burt Jones said in a statement announcing the subpoena. “When organizations secretly spend millions to influence elections while evading disclosure requirements, it undermines confidence in our democratic process. The Senate will continue pursuing the truth and ensuring accountability, regardless of political party or influence.”
Abrams left the groups to run for governor and was not affiliated with them during her 2018 campaign. She and Willis have portrayed the investigations as politically motivated theater.
“Let me be clear from the start: They know I have done nothing wrong, but this is not a search for truth,” Abrams said. “It is a desperate distraction from the ongoing erosion of democracy at the hands of partisan state leaders.”
The Senate committee also is investigating the details of a $2 billion Environmental Protection Agency grant to a coalition of clean energy groups, one of which Abrams previously served as senior counsel.
PolitiFact found no evidence that Abrams received any of the grant money.
About the Author
David Wickert writes about the state budget, finance and voting issues. Previously, he covered local government and politics in Gwinnett and Fulton counties. Before moving to Atlanta, he worked at newspapers in Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington.
