ATLANTA (AP) — The head of the Georgia Ethics Commission said Thursday that his agency is still trying to prove whether or not a voter advocacy group founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams illegally coordinated election work with Abrams' unsuccessful 2018 campaign for governor.
David Emadi, the commission's executive director, told a state Senate committee that the question of coordination is still under investigation. It has been more than seven years since the 2018 election and 10 months since the New Georgia Project admitted illegal activity relating to raising and spending money to influence the 2018 election and a 2019 transit referendum in suburban Gwinnett County.
Under state law, the group was supposed to register as an independent campaign committee and disclose donors and spending. The New Georgia Project, which has since dissolved, paid a $300,000 fine, the largest ethics fine in state history.
“I can say that is something that has been and is being investigated,” Emadi said. “I think I can say that at previous hearings we presented evidence, and some of that evidence certainly gave credence to that question of whether or not coordination occurred.”
The New Georgia Project and Abrams have always denied coordinating spending and activity, which is illegal under state law. Evidence of contacts disclosed by the Ethics Commission between the group and Abrams' first campaign for governor has been thin.
Republican state senators voted in March for an investigatory committee to further examine the New Georgia Project's actions and to probe claims that $2 billion was improperly given to a coalition of groups trying to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Abrams worked with one of the groups until the end of last year. The move comes as Republican Lt. Gov. Burt Jones runs for governor, committee Chairman Bill Cowsert of Athens runs for state attorney general and four other Republicans on the committee run for lieutenant governor.
Abrams has said that Republicans are targeting her because she has been politically effective. The former state House minority leader, Abrams founded the New Georgia Project in 2013. She resigned from the group in 2017, vaulting to national Democratic stardom when she came close to defeating Republican Gov. Brian Kemp in 2018. She parlayed voting rights after that election into a national platform and even consideration as Biden’s running mate in 2020, but lost a 2022 governor’s race rematch to Kemp by a broader margin.
Emadi told the committee Thursday that the Ethics Commission struggles to investigate illegal coordination because it can't question people under oath until after it has proved probable cause that they violated the law. When Cowsert asked him how the commission might be more effective, Emadi suggested giving it the power to put people under oath earlier in investigations. Emadi also suggested that lawmakers could enact some commission rules into law, to prevent rules from being challenged in court.
Some board members of the Ethics Commission have suggested individuals should face criminal penalties or personal fines for knowingly breaking campaign finance laws. Today, campaigns can be fined and individuals can be ordered to repay money they improperly took from campaign accounts.
Cowsert said he wants to see “personal accountability” for people intentionally breaking the law, whether that consists of a fine or even prison time.
Georgia Ethics Commission Executive Director David Emadi speaks to reporters after a state Senate committee hearing on Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025 at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Jeff Amy)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump was set to address the nation Wednesday night and offer an update on the war in Iran, his first prime-time speech since launching strikes alongside Israel more than a month ago.
The speech will offer Trump a wide audience to articulate clear objectives for the war that could attempt to reconcile weeks of changing goals and often contradictory messages about whether he’s winding down or ready to escalate military operations — even as Iran kept up its attacks on Israel and Persian Gulf neighbors and airstrikes pounded Tehran.
It comes amid rising oil prices, volatile financial markets and polling showing many Americans feel the U.S. military has gone too far in Iran — even as more American troops move into the region for a possible ground offensive. Trump opted not to deliver such an address closer to when the U.S. and Israel first launched attacks, and questions now remain about whether it is now too late for what he says to break through.
A White House official, who was not authorized to speak publicly ahead of the address and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the president will talk about U.S. progress on achieving his goals in Iran and will reiterate his estimated timeline for concluding operations within two to three weeks.
The president, in comments during a Easter lunch on Wednesday afternoon, said of Iran: “We could just take their oil. But you know, I’m not sure that the people in our country have the patience to do that, which is unfortunate.”
“Yeah, they want to see it end. If we stayed there, I prefer just to take the oil,” Trump said. “We could do it so easily. I would prefer that. But people in the country sort of say: ‘Just win. You’re winning so big. Just win. Come home.’ And I’m OK with that, too, because we have a lot of oil between Venezuela and our oil.”
The media was not permitted to watch the president’s remarks at the lunch, but the White House uploaded video of the speech online before taking it down. The White House did not return requests for comment from The Associated Press on the video and why it was taken down.
In a social media post earlier Wednesday, Trump maintained a belligerent tone, demanding that Iran stop blocking the Strait of Hormuz — the waterway vital to global oil supplies — or the U.S. would bomb the Islamic Republic “back to the Stone Ages.” The president has also said the U.S. “will not have anything to do with” ensuring the security of ships passing through Hormuz, an apparent backtrack from a previous threat to attack Iran’s power grid if it didn’t open the strait by April 6.
In the same Easter lunch, the president reiterated some of his complaints about NATO allies for their reluctance to get involved in securing the Strait of Hormuz while suggesting that China, Japan and South Korea could also step up to reopen the waterway.
“Let South Korea, you know, we only have 45,000 soldiers in harm’s way over there, right next to a nuclear force -- let South Korea do it,” Trump said of efforts to reopen the strait. “Let Japan do it. They get 90% of their oil from the strait. Let China do it.”
In another morning social media post, Trump wrote that “Iran’s New Regime President” wanted a ceasefire. It wasn’t clear to whom the U.S. president was referring since Iran still has the same president. Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, called Trump’s claim “false and baseless,” according to a report on Iranian state television.
Speaking earlier to Al Jazeera, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi signaled Tehran’s willingness to keep fighting. “You cannot speak to the people of Iran in the language of threats and deadlines,” he said. “We do not set any deadline for defending ourselves.”
Hours before Trump’s address, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian posted a lengthy letter in English on his X account appealing to U.S. citizens and stressing that his country had pursued negotiations before the U.S. withdrew from that path. “Exactly which of the American people’s interests are truly being served by this war?” he wrote.
Since the war began on Feb. 28, Trump has offered shifting objectives and repeatedly has said it could be over soon while also threatening to widen the conflict. Thousands of additional U.S. troops are currently heading to the Middle East, and speculation abounds about why.
Trump has also threatened to attack Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub. And the U.S. could decide to send in military forces to secure Iran’s uranium stockpile — a complex and risky operation, fraught with radiation and chemical dangers, experts and former government officials say.
Adding to the confusion is what role Israel — which has been bombing Iran alongside the U.S. — might play in any of these scenarios.
Trump has been under growing pressure to end the war that has been pushing up the cost of gasoline, food and other goods. The price of Brent crude, the international standard, is up more than 40% since the start of the war.
The U.S. has presented Iran with a 15-point plan aimed at bringing about a ceasefire, including a demand for the strait to be reopened and for its nuclear program to be rolled back.
Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful. And in a report last week by Iranian state TV's English-language broadcaster, an anonymous official was quoted as saying Iran had its own demands to end the fighting, including retaining sovereignty over the strait.
In the interview with Al Jazeera, Araghchi acknowledged receiving direct messages from U.S. Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff. He insisted, however, that there were no direct negotiations and said Iran has no faith that talks with the U.S. could yield any results, saying “the trust level is at zero.”
He warned against any U.S. attempt to launch a ground offensive, saying “we are waiting for them.”
In a deal ostensibly to give diplomacy a chance, U.S. officials have given “clear assurances” that Araghchi and Iran's Parliamentary Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf won't be targeted, according to three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they're not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.
Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Rising reported from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Giovanna Dell’Orto in Miami, Farnoush Amiri in New York and Samy Magdy in Cairo contributed to this report.
A rainbow forms over the White House on Wednesday, April 1, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
A young girl is comforted by her father and Israeli soldiers as they take cover in a bomb shelter during air raid sirens warning of incoming Iranian missile strikes in Bnei Brak, Israel, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
People inspect the site of an Israeli strike amid debris and damaged vehicles in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
A man feeds stray cats in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
The Indian flagged LPG carrier Jag Vasant transporting liquefied petroleum gas, is seen at the Mumbai Port in Mumbai, India, after it arrived clearing the Strait of Hormuz, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Firefighters and rescue workers work at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
A firefighter extinguishes a car at the site of Israeli airstrikes, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Israel's rescue teams and residents take shelter as sirens sounds next to a site struck by an Iranian missile in Bnei Brak, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A police vehicle is seen through a shattered windshield at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Two men ride scooters past charred debris at the site of an Israeli strike in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, April 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
