Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp calls for a signature audit of the 2020 election results, calls oversight committee testimony 'concerning'

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to conduct a signature audit of the state's 2020 election results Thursday, calling some of the testimony to come out during that day's state Senate Oversight Committee hearing "concerning."

While it is unclear to what degree a signature audit can still be conducted in the state since mail-in ballots are separated from their signed envelopes before they are counted, the call matches what President Donald Trump has been asking for since counting was completed earlier this month showing Democratic nominee Joe Biden edging the incumbent in the state by just under 13,000 votes.

"You know, I've called early on for a signature audit, obviously the secretary of state, per the laws and the Constitution would have to order that; he has not done that," Kemp told Fox News' Laura Ingraham. "I think it should be done. I think, especially with what we saw today, it raises more questions. There needs to be transparency on that. I would again call for that, and I think in the next 24 hours hopefully we'll see a lot more from the hearings that the legislature had today and we'll be able to look and see what the next steps are."

Later in the interview, after Ingraham played video from the hearing showing Democratic poll workers in Fulton County allegedly pulling cases of ballots from under a table to count them while Republican poll watchers were no longer present, Kemp said, "Certainly what [we saw] today was concerning."

"We need to get answers from the secretary of state about exactly what happened," he added. "Obviously, they should be investigating this, I imagine they already are."

Kemp, a Trump supporter, has been under fire from the president this week. On Monday, Trump called the governor out on Twitter, asking, "Why won't Governor [Kemp], the hapless Governor of Georgia, use his emergency powers, which can be easily done, to overrule his obstinate Secretary of State, and do a match of signatures on envelopes[?]"

"It will be a 'goldmine' of fraud, and we will easily WIN the state," the president added. "Also, quickly check the number of envelopes versus the number of ballots. You may just find that there are many more ballots than there are envelopes. So simple, and so easy to do. Georgia Republicans are angry, all Republicans are angry. Get it done!"

After the tweet, Kemp's office quickly responded by clarifying that state law prohibits him from interfering in elections because "the Secretary of State, who is an elected constitutional officer, has oversight over elections that cannot be overridden by executive order."

During the Thursday interview, Ingraham also pressed Kemp on what he may be able to do as governor to ensure election fraud does not occur during next month's Senate runoff elections between Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler and their Democratic challengers, Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock.

Kemp said he was considering calling the state legislature back to session or facilitating changes through the court system, but did not commit to any action.