Dem Rep. Cohen's smearing of National Guard was 'pretty outrageous': Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp

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Ga Gov. Brian Kemp: 'Outrageous' for Dem Rep to question National Guard motives

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp discusses the widely panned remarks by Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., on 'The Story.'

Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has slammed a Democratic congressman's remarks suggesting pro-Trump National Guardsmen would harm President-elect Joe Biden as "completely outrageous."

In an interview with "The Story" Tuesday, Kemp told host Martha MacCallum the thousands of guardsmen deployed by Georgia and other states to help secure the inauguration were "great patriots."

Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., faced bipartisan condemnation on Monday after he told CNN that the large number of "White males" in the Guard raised the possibility that they "might want to do something."

"The [National] Guard is 90 some-odd% male, and only about 20% of White males voted for Biden," Cohen said. "You've got to figure that in the Guard, which is predominantly more conservative … they're probably not more than 25% of the people there protecting us that voted for Biden. The other 75% are in the large class of folks that might want to do something."

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GOV. BRIAN KEMP: I saw that clip and I thought to myself, "That's pretty outrageous." He doesn't know the Georgia National Guard like I do. I remember vividly back this summer [at] two, three o'clock in the morning, walking around the square of the Georgia State Capitol shaking every Guardsman's hand ... [who was] protecting this building during civil unrest. It was as diverse a group as you've ever seen in your life, and they were there to do one thing and that was to follow orders, to protect the Capitol and protect property in the city of Atlanta and state assets at that time. These are good people ...

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I just think that is completely outrageous, and I've seen a lot about the vetting process as well. That is a normal proccess that goes on ... Our Georgia National Guard, it's unbelievable what they've been doing ...

They've done incredible work in the pandemic, helping with testing ... food banks, now they're helping us with vaccine administration. These are great patriots.