Ossoff calls – Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff says the winner of the Republican Senate primary would back President Trump’s actions in the state, including what he calls an “insurrectionist slush fund.” The comments land as the GOP nomination heads to a June 16 runoff between Mike
By the time Fulton County’s last polling location closed at 11:02 p.m. in Sandy Springs, it was clear the Republican Senate primary would not be decided in one night.
Mike Collins finished first with 40.50%, but neither candidate reached the 50% threshold. Derek Dooley held on for second with 30.19%, narrowly outpacing Buddy Carter, and Collins and Dooley will now meet again in a June 16 runoff.
Ossoff, the incumbent Democratic senator running for reelection in November, used the moment to go on the offensive—saying it largely wouldn’t matter which Republican nominee emerges because both would support what he called President Trump’s agenda in Georgia.
“I am running in Georgia against two Trump lackeys who, you can rest assured as they race for the President’s approval, would be voting for this crooked ballroom and this insurrectionist slush fund,” Ossoff said Wednesday night on MS Now.
He tied his criticism to two separate issues that have become central to his campaign messaging: Trump’s contested plan to rebuild the East Wing of the White House as an elaborate ballroom. and a $1.776 billion IRS settlement that he frames as an “anti-weaponization” fund for people who say they were treated unfairly by a politicized justice system.
Ossoff said his opponents—Collins and Dooley—should be forced to take positions on those actions before Georgians cast their final votes in November. “Every national political reporter in the country should be putting that question to these two candidates … Let’s see them prove to the people of Georgia,” he said. He added that he expects them to face voters over what he described as support for “pro-war. ” “pro-tariff. ” and “pro-cutting healthcare” policies.
His Democratic counterpart in the Senate echoed that framing. Raphael Warnock. also a Democrat from Georgia. posted on X that the President had used his power to exempt himself and his family from audits on every tax return they have filed. “If that is not corruption to the highest degree, then what is?” Warnock wrote, referencing part of the IRS agreement.
Collins had leaned hard into the MAGA movement during his campaign and is closely aligned with Trump. When asked about Ossoff’s comments, Collins said he would support the Department of Justice fund. In a statement issued to USA TODAY. he argued: “Joe Biden weaponized the government to censor and attack his political rival. PTA moms. conservative organizations. and anyone who threatened Biden’s reign.”.
Collins said he had “confidence in the oversight process” and that people affected by political weaponization should be “made whole.”
His rhetoric has followed a familiar path in the campaign. He has blamed Ossoff for the TSA shutdown at Hartsfield-Jackson and described Ossoff as part of the political elite. Collins also emphasized his own background in trucking before moving to the U.S. House.
Campaign finance was another recurring theme. Collins said his opponents outspent him “15 to 1,” while he argued he was able to “do the most with the least” after finishing first in the primary.
The Dooley campaign did not respond after USA TODAY reached out for comment on the DOJ fund.
The dispute over what Ossoff calls an “insurrectionist slush fund” centers on the $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization” arrangement that followed Trump’s legal fight with the IRS. The President and his family previously sued the Internal Revenue Service seeking $10 billion in damages tied to the leak of Trump’s tax returns. The family later agreed to drop the suit in exchange for a $1.776 billion fund created through the Department of Justice to “reimburse” people who were “horribly treated” by a “weaponized” system under the Biden Administration.
In comments to reporters on Monday, Trump described the period as one in which people were “weaponized,” saying they had been imprisoned “wrongly,” forced to pay legal fees they “didn’t have,” gone bankrupt, and had “lives” destroyed.
The May 18 agreement also includes a major boundary: the IRS will no longer pursue tax liabilities claims it may have against Trump. members of his family. or his companies. And while the fund would not be limited to the Biden Administration time period, it would include Jan. 6 defendants, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said during a May 19 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.
Blanche also described a five-person committee, appointed by him, that would judge whether an American is eligible for a payout from the fund. An agreement signed by Blanche states that the U.S. government would have “no liability” if the money is misused by someone who receives funds.
Opponents across the political spectrum, including many in the Senate Appropriations Committee, have denounced the fund as a way for Trump to financially reward allies—even when those individuals have been convicted of crimes against the government he now leads.
In Georgia, that fight is now set to run straight through a June 16 runoff between Collins and Dooley, with Ossoff challenging the Republican nominee—whoever wins—to answer voters on both the “crooked ballroom” claim and the “insurrectionist slush fund” controversy before Election Day in November.
Jon Ossoff Georgia Senate Mike Collins Derek Dooley Buddy Carter Raphael Warnock IRS settlement DOJ fund anti-weaponization fund East Wing ballroom Jan. 6 defendants Todd Blanche Senate Appropriations Committee Georgia runoff