Former president Trump put aside his differences Friday with Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, meeting Kemp in the hurricane-ravaged community of Evans, Ga, for their first joint appearance since Kemp refused to help Trump overturn his 2020 election loss.

After shaking hands at a press briefing, Trump praised Kemp. “Your governor’s doing a fantastic job,” Trump said.

It was a significant public turnaround, one calibrated to bring Georgia Republicans together ahead of a tight Nov. 5. election.

Over the last four years, Trump has repeatedly tried to undermine Kemp, blaming the Georgia GOP leader for not doing enough to overturn his 2020 loss and endorsing a rival gubernatorial candidate in 2022. Just months ago, he insulted Kemp as a “bad guy.”

But getting conservatives to the polls and wooing undecided voters is key for Republicans in this Southern battleground state.

Biden won Georgia in 2020 by fewer than 12,000 votes and polling averages compiled by FiveThirtyEight.com show Trump ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris in Georgia by just 1.3 percentage points, within the margin of error.

With Trump and Harris neck and neck, the two men presented a united front.

“It is my honor, and I want to thank President Trump for coming back to our state again for the second time to … keep a national focus on our state as we recover,” Kemp said after the two GOP leaders attended a briefing on hurricane damage in Evans, a conservative suburb of Augusta that suffered severe storm damage.

Asked about his relationship with the governor, Trump said: “We’ve always worked together very well.”

Georgia political observers stress that it would be unwise for Trump to make an enemy of Kemp, Georgia’s most popular and powerful elected official.

“The joint appearance might calm some Republicans upset about the attacks on Kemp,” said GOP strategist Brian Robinson, a former communications director for former Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal. “It doesn’t add votes really, but it’s important for Trump to keep Kemp on the team rowing in the same direction. Kemp would never be publicly opposed, but it would be harmful if he was.”

Earlier this week, Kemp did not join Trump when the former president traveled to Valdosta, Ga., to survey the damage from Hurricane Helene.

At a rally this week, Trump criticized Biden for “sleeping” after the hurricane brought torrential rain to the region and falsely claimed that Kemp could not reach Biden for federal assistance — a claim that Kemp later disputed.

Speaking at an August Atlanta rally, Trump shocked many Georgia conservatives when he rebuked Kemp as “little Brian.” He said that under Kemp’s leadership and the state had “gone to hell” and Atlanta was “a killing field.” He also accused of Kemp’s wife, Marty, who months earlier told a reporter she planned to write in Kemp’s name for president, of disloyalty.

“Leave my family out of it,” Kemp retorted on X. “My focus is on winning this November and saving our country from Kamala Harris and the Democrats – not engaging in petty personal insults, attacking fellow Republicans, or dwelling on the past.”

Many Georgia Republicans united against Trump in support of Kemp — a popular GOP player across the state who crushed a Trump-endorsed challenger in the 2022 GOP primary before winning against Democrat Stacey Abrams.

Still, Kemp refused to get sucked into the drama, insisting he would use his robust political machine this fall to boost Trump’s 2024 bid for the White House.

“This is still a state we can win if we have all the mechanics and the things you need to do to win an election,” Kemp said in August. “We’ve raised enough money and we have good candidates.

Just before Harris accepted the nomination at the Democratic National Convention, Trump made overtures to Kemp via the social platform X, thanking him for his “help and support in Georgia, where a win is so important.”

“I look forward to working with you, your team, and all of my friends in Georgia to help MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

And last week he extended that overture, calling Kemp “fantastic” at a visit in Savannah before the hurricane hit.

Still, Trump’s praise for Kemp may not last long. Trump has been indicted in Georgia — an 98-page indictment by Fulton County Dist. Atty. Fani Willis
claims the former president “unlawfully conspired” to change the election outcome — and Kemp could serve as a possible trial witness against Trump.

TOOMBS COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) – Georgia’s Lt. Governor Burt Jones visited some of Helene’s hardest hit areas Thursday, including Montgomery and Toombs Counties.

One of Lt. Governor Jones’ stops included the Vidalia-Toombs EMA building where city and county leaders, including first responders, gave their “day seven” updates following Helene’s impact last week.

The Lt. Governor says he wanted to see how his office can help, as well as bring awareness to storm victims’ needs.

“We want to have every ability, it doesn’t matter if it’s like I said a local city system, county system, power companies, hospitals, whatever it might be, individual citizens or businesses, we want everybody to know that we are here to take your calls and provide whatever services that we need to do to accomplish our end goals,” said Lt. Governor Jones.

Lt. Governor Jones says he wants people to know his office has an open line of communication for those in need.

After power in the area is restored and all the necessary repairs are made, the Lt. Governor’s office will then determine how many state dollars will be allocated to the rebuilding process.

Montgomery County also suffered devastating damages after Helene made landfall a week ago.

To show their support, Lt. Governor Jones, alongside State Senator Blake Tillery, visited Montgomery County High School Thursday where volunteers have been passing out supplies to those in need.

Downed power lines, destroyed homes and trees ripped from the ground are just some of the reminders that Helene left for people in Montgomery County.

The storm damage prompting state officials to respond.

“Here in Montgomery County, it’s a lot like the other counties we’ve seen,” said Lt. Governor Jones. “It’s significant, the damage is significant, and it’s going to take resources.”

Resources that will help repair some of what was lost in the storm.

In the meantime, locals are doing what they can to support their own. Volunteers have been stationed at Montgomery County High School for nearly a week passing out food, water and other supplies to people in dire need.

The county’s school superintendent says they’re trying to help in every little way they can.

“We are eagles, so we were built to soar above the storm. Keep your head high. We’re not going to clean this up in a day,” said Rhonda Hightower. “When we get back to school, it’s going to be a slow start getting folks back to school. But we are going to get people back as quick as we can.”

These efforts are only the beginning of Montgomery’s long road to recovery, and people are hoping more help is on the way.

“This is something we’ve never been through in our lives. Just keep us in y’all’s prayers, please,” Judy Quarterman, volunteer and Montgomery County resident.

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The accused accomplice and rumored lover of a Georgia beauty queen claimed Thursday that he’s innocent and “nobody wanted” her then-estranged husband dead in the alleged murder-for-hire plot in the Bahamas.

Lindsay Shiver‘s ex-boyfriend Terrance “Adrien” Bethel was arrested alongside the mom of three and alleged hitman Faron “Faylo” Newbold in July 2023, when the trio was accused of attempting to kill former Auburn football captain Robert Shiver.

The plot was foiled when local police unearthed texts that detailed the planned hit during an unrelated investigation of a break-in at the waterfront bar where Bethel worked.

Lindsay Shiver allegedly sent a photo of her husband with another woman through a series of messages in the messaging service WhatsApp to Bethel and Newbold accompanied by the text “Kill him.”

“She sends the picture that was just sent to her,” Bethel told Good Morning America. “When she found out he was there and the kids were home, that’s when she’s like ‘kill him.’”

Bethel defended his former lover’s questionable message claiming she wanted to know if Robert Shiver left their kids unsupervised at their Caribbean island home.

“Nobody ever wanted him dead,” he insisted.

The Bahamian barman claimed his innocence to the outlet as Lindsay Shiver returned to Nassau for a pre-trial court hearing on Oct. 5.

“I’m definitely not guilty of conspiracy to commit murder,” Bethel said. “And Faylo is not guilty of being a hired hitman.

“It’s time to let the world know that we’re innocent.”

Lindsay Shiver admitted to investigators that she sent frustrating messages after fighting with her husband, whom she married in 2010.

Bethel had downplayed the texts saying “Everybody says things out of frustration” and people take things at “face value.”

“None of us have anything to hide,” he told the Daily Mail last August.

“Whenever she gets into an argument with him, she tells me about it. Of course, I’m livid about it, but planning to murder him? No,” Bethel said laughing at the notion he is an attempted killer.

Shiver “lived a double life” when she frequently traveled to the island of Abaco, where the family has a second home, and began an affair with Bethel, sources told The Post last August.

“She lived a double life — this Georgia housewife with the lovely kids and the Bahamas bad girl. She got caught up in something really bad. It’s sad,” the source said.

Before the collapse of their marriage, the Shivers split their time between a multimillion-dollar Thomasville, Georgia mansion and a luxury spread in the exclusive Bahamian enclave of Baker’s Bay.

The couple met while Robert Shiver was the Auburn University football team captain in 2007.

The barman said his romance with Shiver was known and they vented to each other frequently.

“Us loving each other was not a secret. She’s my best friend still, we continue to care about each other no matter what which also makes it hard going through this case,” Bethel said.

Shiver, who pleaded not guilty to her charges, has been staying with her parents in Alabama awaiting her March trial, and a Georgia judge granted her permission to travel to the Peach State to visit her kids.

Robert Shiver began dating Savannah Chrisley in Sept. 2023 — two months after surviving the alleged murder-for-hire hit.

The Auburn star went undrafted in the 2009 NFL draft but signed as a free agent with the Atlanta Falcons after college. He later became executive vice president for Senior Life Insurance Company.