GOP candidate who drove ‘deportation bus’ indicted on insurance fraud charges
State Sen. Michael Williams (R), who ran a “Deportation Bus Tour” to the state’s “sanctuary cities” in his unsuccessful campaign for Georgia’s governorship, was indicted this week on insurance fraud charges.
Williams is accused of making a false report of insurance fraud, making false statements and falsely reporting a crime.
{mosads}The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Thursday that Williams claimed computer servers were taken from his campaign office prior to his loss in the state’s May primary.
Williams declined to comment to the paper, but his former campaign manager, Seth Weathers, said the charge a “political witch hunt from the beginning and has zero merit” in a statement to the publication. Weathers, at the time, claimed that $300,000 worth of servers were stolen from the building.
Williams also is accused of lying about the case to a Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent, according to the paper.
Hall County District Attorney Lee Darragh told the newspaper that Williams is making arrangements to turn himself in to authorities.
Williams, a former co-chair of President Trump’s presidential campaign in Georgia, gained national prominence for his “Deportation Bus” earlier this year, which he said he would use to find and house undocumented immigrants “to send them back to where they came from.”
“We’re not just going to track them and watch them roam around our state,” Williams said in a commercial announcing the tour around the time. “We’re going to put them on this bus and send ‘em home.”
Williams came in fifth place out of five candidates in the state’s gubernatorial primary. He will be succeeded next month by Greg Dolezal (R), the Journal-Constitution reported.
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