Political Rewind: Trump endorses Perdue's run; DOJ ends Emmett Till investigation

Caption

Georgia Republican gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp, center, walks with President Donald Trump, right, and Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga) as Trump arrives for a rally Sunday, Nov. 4, 2018, in Macon, Ga.

Credit: John Bazemore, AP

The Panelists:

Tamar Hallerman — Senior reporter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Stephen Fowler — Politics reporter, GPB News

Rep. Sam Park — Democratic state representative, 101st District

Leo Smith — Republican consultant and President, Engaged Futures Group

The Breakdown:

1. Former President Donald Trump endorses David Perdue’s campaign for governor.  

• Less than 24 hours after announcing his candidacy for governor of Georgia, David Perdue gets a ringing endorsement from Trump. The former president called Perdue “...a Conservative fighter who isn’t afraid of the Radical Left, and is the only candidate in Georgia who can beat Stacey “The Hoax” Abrams in November.”   
• Trump previously endorsed then-candidate, now-incumbent Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018. Trump dropped his support of Kemp after Kemp refused to try to overturn the Georgia results in the 2020 election.  
• The former president also endorsed Herschel Walker’s run for Senate. If Walker gains the Republican nomination in the primary, he then would face freshman Sen. Raphael Warnock.
• Meanwhile, Democrat Stacey Abrams declared her candidacy for governor last week.

2. U.S. Justice Department ends the investigation into Emmett Till’s lynching.

• The department reopened an investigation after a 2017 book quoted a key figure, Carolyn Bryant Donham, as saying she lied about her inciting accusations of 14-year-old Emmett Till’s interaction with her. 

• Till, a Black teen from Chicago who was visiting family in Mississippi during the summer of 1955, was kidnapped, tortured, and killed after falsely being accused of whistling at a white woman.

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An undated photo of Emmett Till, taken by Mamie Till Bradley and made available through the Associated Press..

Credit: AP

• A month after Till’s murder, the all-white jury acquitted the two white men facing charges in Till’s death.  

Tomorrow on Political Rewind: 

We discuss the latest on proposals in the Georgia legislature to ban "obscene" materials in schools.