ATLANTA (AP) The judge presiding over a special grand jury thats investigating possible illegal attempts to influence the 2020 election in Georgia is wading into a fight over whether Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has to testify before the panel.

Fulton County Superior Court Judge Robert McBurney, whos supervising the special grand jury , scheduled a hearing for Thursday morning after a dispute between lawyers for the governor and Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis team of prosecutors escalated from tense emails to court filings in recent weeks.

The increasingly heated rhetoric is playing out as the Republican governor, who is seeking reelection in the fall, seeks to avoid speaking to a special grand jury looking into whether former President Donald Trump and his allies broke any laws as they tried to overturn Trumps narrow election loss to Democrat Joe Biden . Kemps lawyers have accused Willis, a Democrat, of pursuing his testimony for improper political purposes, an allegation the district attorney strongly denies.