Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) on Sunday said former President Trump’s attacks on Georgia Governor Brian Kemp (R) were “personal” after Kemp publicly said he did not vote for Trump in the 2024 primary.
“Well, listen, there’s an issue there. Kemp was clearly seeking Trump’s endorsement when he was running for governor, and then he turned his back on President Trump. So there’s a personal issue there,” Mullin told CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview on “State of the Union” about Trump’s attacks.
“It was personal to President Trump that Mr. Kemp actively sought President Trump’s support, and then at a time when President Trump needed him most, Mr. Kemp chose to distance himself from him,” he said. “That’s the problem.”
Mullin said Trump’s frustration with Kemp is largely down to loyalty issues.
“Let me be clear: I am a friend, a loyal friend. If my friends need me, especially if they ask me for a favor, I will do my best for them. I will do everything I can to help them. I’m not going to play politics,” Marin said.
Bash interjected, asking if Marin was planning to overturn the election results, to which Marin replied, “That’s an entirely different issue.”
“Kemp made it very clear that he was not going to vote for President Trump in the primary, and that’s what this election is about. This was four years ago,” Mullin said.
Trump endorsed Kemp in 2018 but famously ignored him in 2022 after the incumbent governor gained national recognition as a conservative who resisted Trump’s calls to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results when President Biden won.
In a CNN interview in late June, Kemp said he did not vote for Trump in Georgia’s presidential primary this year, submitting a blank ballot instead.
“I voted, but I didn’t vote for anybody. By the time the primary started, the race was already over,” Kemp told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins in June. “Well, for me, personally, politically, I mean, if [I’d] It would be interesting if I voted for him, if I didn’t vote, if I didn’t vote at all.”
Trump won the Georgia primary on March 12, with former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley winning 13.2 percent of the vote.
Kemp endorsed Trump in a brief statement in March, saying, “I think Trump is better than Joe Biden. That’s all.” In a June interview, Kemp did not say he would vote for Trump in the general election, instead saying he would support the Republican candidate.
