Trump to Georgia official: ‘Find’ votes
Phone call is latest attempt to overturn Biden’s win in state
Taped phone call is latest attempt by the president to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state.
ATLANTA — President Donald Trump urged Georgia’s election chief to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state, suggesting in a telephone call that the official “find” enough votes to hand Trumpthe victory.
The conversation Saturdaywas the latest step in an unprecedented effort by a sitting president to pressure a state official to reverse the outcome of a free and fair election that he lost. The renewed intervention and the persistent and unfounded claims of fraud by the first president to lose re election in almost 30 years come 16 days before Trump leaves office and before twin run offs Tuesday in Georgia that will determine control of the Senate.
Trump confirmed in a tweet Sunday that he had spoken with Georgia’s secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensperger, aday earlier.
Audio of the conversation was posted online by The WashingtonPost. Arecording of the callwas later obtained by The Associated Press from apersononthe call.
The president, who has refused to accept his loss to the Democratic president-elect, is heard telling Raffensperger at one point: “All Iwant to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
Georgia’ s certified election results showBidenwon the stateNov. 3by 11,779 votes.
The White House referred questions toTrump’s reelection campaign, which did not respond Sunday to an emailed request for comment. Raffensperger’s office did not respond to a text message seeking comment.
Biden senior adviser Bob Bauer said the recording was “irrefutable proof” ofTrump pressuring and threatening an official in his ownparty to “rescind a state’ s lawful, certified vote count and fabricate another in its place.”
At another point in the conversation, Trump appeared to threaten Ra ff ensperger and Ryan Germany, the secretary of state’s legal counsel, by suggesting both could be criminally liable if they failed to find that thousands of ballots in Fulton County had been illegally
destroyed. There is no evidence to support Trump’ s claim.
“That’ s a criminal offense ,” Trump says. “And you can’t let that happen.”
Trump has repeatedly attacked how Raffensperger ran Georgia’s elections, claiming without evidence that the state’s 16 electoral voteswere wrongly given to Biden.
“He has no clue!” Trump tweeted of Raffensperger, saying the state official “was unwilling, or unable” to answer questions about a series of claims about ballot handling and voters that have been debunked or shot downby judges and election authorities.
Raffensperger’s Twitter response :“Respect fully, President Trump: What you’ re saying is not true. The truth willcomeout.”
Therewas no widespread fraud in the election, which a range of election officials across the country, as well as Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, have confirmed.
Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, key battleground states crucial to Biden’s victory, have also vouched for the integrity of the elections in their states. Nearly all the legal challenges from Trump and his allies have been dismissed by judges, including two tossed by the Supreme Court, which includes three Trump- nominated justices.
The Senate runoffs pit Sen. Kelly Loef fl er against Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican David Perdue against Democrat Jon Os so ff. With the Senate up for grabs,
the candidates and outside groups supporting them have spent hundreds of millions of dollars in the contests, deluging Georgia with television ads, mail, phone calls and door-knocking efforts.
Loeffler said she had not decided whether to join Republican colleagues in challenging the legitimacy of Biden’s victory over Trump. The Democratic candidates whose wins Tuesdaywould help clear roadblocks for the new administration’ s agenda a waited a campaign visit from Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.
Trump has persisted in attacking top Georgia Republicans over hi selection loss in the state, raising fears that hiswords could cause some Republicans to stay away fromthe polls.
“I believe thatwe will win on Tuesday because of the grassroots momentum, the unprecedented movement energy in Georgia right now ,” Ossoff told CNN’s “State of theUnion.”
He said “it feels in Georgia likewe are on the cusp of a historic victory.”
Loeffler, whenaskedabout siding with the growing group of Senate Republicans seeking to contest the Electoral College countWednesday, said she was “looking very closely at it, and I’ve been one of the first to say, everything’ son the table .”
She told “Fox News Sunday” that “I’m fighting for this president because he’s fought for us. He’s our president andwe’re going to keep making sure that this is a fair election.”
Warnock, theseniorpastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta who has continued top reach as he campaigns for office, seemed to allude to the runoff in a message deliveredSunday. Hetoldviewers watching remotely due to the pandemic that they are “on the verge of victory” in their lives if they accept that God has already equipped them with the ability to overcome their adversaries.
“When God is with you, you can defeat giants,” said Warnock, who ended the service by encouraging Georgians to vote Tuesday.
Perdue, who is in quarantine after being exposed to a staff member with the coronavirus and won’t appear with Trump at a Monday rally, said he would have joined the electoral challenge in the Senate if he had been in Washington.
“This is something that the American people demand rightnow,” he toldFoxNews Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”