Chaos unfolded at Georgia’s State Capitol Thursday morning when GOP State Senator Colton Moore was arrested following a heated confrontation with security.
Moore, who previously attempted to have Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis impeached for indicting Trump, tried to enter the House floor to attend Gov. Brian Kemp’s State of the State Address but was eventually escorted away in handcuffs, Fox News reported.
Moore is currently banned from entering the chamber after criticizing the state Senate’s decision last year to consider a resolution naming a building at the University of North Georgia after the late former speaker David Ralston.
“This body is about to memorialize, in my opinion, one of the most corrupt Georgia leaders that we are ever going to see in my lifetime,” Moore claimed then.
On Wednesday, Moore wrote to House Speaker Jon Burns explaining why he believed the ban was unconstitutional and stated his intention to attend today’s joint session.
“I will NEVER back down,” Moore wrote on X, sharing the letter he penned to Burns. “I will ALWAYS speak the truth and represent the people of Northwest Georgia as their trusted America First Senator.”
However, when he attempted to enter the chamber on Wednesday, he was stopped and appeared to have been pushed to the floor by a doorman.
Moore informed state troopers present that he had a constitutional right to enter and that the doorman should be arrested for violating the law. “This is a joint session of the General Assembly. Your House rules do not apply,” Moore told the men. “I’m going into the chamber.”
Unable to gain entry, Moore asked a state trooper if he was being stopped from entering. The trooper seemed to indicate that the doormen were responsible for determining who could enter, Fox reported.
A scuffle broke out, with video showing Moore being pushed to the floor by one of the doormen. He was then surrounded by state troopers and arrested.
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On his way out, Moore declared that the state was “ruled by authoritarians” and called the ban a form of censorship of his voice as an elected official.
Georgia Republican chairman Josh McKoon expressed being “deeply disappointed” that Moore had been denied access to the chamber and was “shocked” by his arrest.
“It was not only legally appropriate to admit him to today’s proceedings — it was simply the right thing to do,” McKoon wrote in a statement to FOX 5 Atlanta. “Our focus should be on the excellent agenda being outlined by Governor Kemp today to continue to make Georgia the best place in the country to live, work, and raise a family — not internal conflicts.”
In 2023, Georgia’s Republican Senate Caucus suspended Moore for criticizing them after they opposed his effort to impeach Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis for indicting Trump in an election interference case. “The Georgia RINOs responded to my call to fight back against the Trump witch hunts by acting like children and throwing me out of the caucus,” Moore wrote on X at the time. “But I’m not going anywhere.”
Moore was the leading advocate for a special session to impeach and remove Fani Willis or defund her office, securing Trump’s endorsement. However, Governor Kemp denounced the effort, calling it “some grifter scam” designed to raise campaign contributions for Moore.
The Willis case eventually faltered, partly due to her having a romantic relationship with a prosecutor, Nathan Wade, whom she had hired.
