Washington – During a one-hour telephone conversation with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Saturday, President Trump pressured him and other officials to “find” enough votes in the state’s presidential election to make him the winner, according to the audio of the CBS News call.
During the call, which Mr. Trump revealed, took place in a tweet On Sunday, the president said to Raffensperger, “All I want is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, that’s one more than we have. Because we won the state.” The Washington Post first reported on the content of the call and released the audio. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows also took part in the discussion.
“The people in Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry,” Trump said on the audio recording. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know you’ve recalculated it.”
Raffensperger, a Republican, opposed Mr Trump’s suggestion, telling him that “the data you have is wrong.” He also repeatedly told Mr. Trump that the election results were accurate and refuted the president’s baseless claims.
Trump lost the presidential race in Georgia to the president-elect Joe Biden with 11,779 votes. Since the November elections, state ballots have been counted a total of three times, confirming the president-elect’s victory each time.
The president’s phone call to Raffensperger marked a significant and stunning escalation in his efforts to reverse the outcome of the presidential election. In the weeks since Nov. 3, Mr. Trump has conducted several campaigns in an attempt to reverse the results by looking into court and then state legislators and now Congress to get him a second term.
But Mr. Trump’s multitude of lawsuits to have largely rejected, and the states have all certified their election results. In addition, presidential voters from the 50 states and the District of Columbia gathered on December 14 to re-cast their votes confirms Mr Biden’s victory.
Yet Mr. Trump has refused to accept the election results, especially in Georgia, and has repeatedly attacked Raffensperger and Governor Brian Kemp, also a Republican. Mr. Biden’s victory marked the first time in nearly 30 years that a Democrat won the state.
In addition to suggesting that Raffensperger “finds” the votes to undo his defeat in Georgia, he also reiterated baseless conspiracy theories about Dominion Voting Systems, a company that provided software used in 28 states.
“Do you think it’s possible they shredded ballots in Fulton County? Because that’s the rumor. And also that Dominion has disabled machines. That Dominion is really fast getting rid of their machines. Do you know anything about that? Because that’s illegal, ” Mr. Trump asked Raffensperger and his general adviser Ryan Germany, who was also on the phone.
Germany told the president, “No, Dominion did not move machines out of Fulton County,” and repeatedly shot Mr. Trump’s persistent claims about whether Dominion “moved the inner parts of the machines and replaced them with other parts.”
During the phone call, Trump called Raffensperger a “child” and “either dishonest or incompetent” because he did not believe there was voter fraud in Atlanta. The president called himself a “schmuck” for endorsing Kemp, and appeared to be threatening Raffensperger and Germany for alleged fraud, although there is no evidence to support his claims that ballots were illegally destroyed.
‘You know what they did and you don’t report it. That’s a criminal, that’s a criminal offense, ”he said. ‘And you can’t let that happen. That is a big risk for you and for Ryan, your attorney. And that is a big risk. ‘
Mr. Trump then claimed that the ballots were shredded and the machines removed.
“You can’t let it happen and you let it happen,” he said according to the audio. “I’ll let you know you’re going to let it happen.”
Mr Trump said Raffensperger’s refusal to reverse the outcome of the presidential race will deter Republicans from voting in a pair of second elections on Tuesday, the results of which will determine which party controls the Senate.
“You have a big election coming up and because of what you did to the president – you know, the people of Georgia know this was a scam,” Trump said. “Because of what you did to the president, a lot of people aren’t going to vote, and a lot of Republicans are going to vote negative because they hate what you did to the president. Okay? They hate it. And they are going to vote. And you would vote. Be respected, really respected, if this can be rectified before the elections. ‘
Mr. Trump was referring to earlier Sunday’s call Twitter, saying he spoke to Raffensperger about Fulton County and alleged voter fraud in the state.
He was unwilling or unable to answer questions like the ‘ballots under the table; scams, ballot paper destruction, out-of-state ‘voters’, dead voters and more. He has no idea! said the president.
In response to Mr. Trump’s tweet, Raffensperger said“With respect, President Trump, what you say is not true. The truth will come out.”
The congress will meet in a joint session on Wednesday measure and certify the results of the Electoral College. More than 100 GOP House members are expected to object to the results of some states, and also a group of nearly a dozen Republican senators plan to challenge the election results, unless a committee has been appointed to monitor the results.
However, it is very unlikely that their objections will succeed as both chambers must vote separately to support an objection. With the Democrats controlling the House, it is all but guaranteed that lawmakers will not throw out Mr. Biden’s election votes.