Trump tells Ga. to find votes
Republican official replies, ‘We don’t agree that you have won’
ATLANTA — President Donald Trump pressed Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state’s presidential election, according to a recording of the conversation.
The phone call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Saturday was the latest step in Trump’s effort to reverse the outcome of the election. The president, who has refused to accept his loss to the Democratic president-elect, repeatedly argued that Raffensperger could change the certified results.
“All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said. “Because we won the state.”
Georgia counted its votes three times before certifying Biden’s win by an 11,779 margin, Raffensperger noted.
“President Trump, we’ve had several lawsuits, and we’ve had to respond in court to the lawsuits and the contentions. We don’t agree that you have won,” he said.
Audio snippets of the conversation were first posted online by The Washington Post. The Associated Press obtained the full audio of Trump’s conversation with Georgia officials from a person on the call.
Trump’s renewed intervention comes nearly two weeks before he leaves office and two days before twin runoff elections in Georgia that will determine control of the U.S. Senate.
The president used the hourlong conversation to tick through a list of claims about the election in Georgia, including one that hundreds of thousands of ballots had mysteriously appeared in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta. Officials have said there is no evidence of that happening.
The Georgia officials on the call are heard repeatedly pushing back against the president’s assertions, telling him that he’s relying on debunked theories and, in one case, selectively edited video.
Others on the call included Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, and attorneys assisting Trump, including Washington lawyer Cleta Mitchell.
Democrats and a few Republicans condemned Trump’s actions, while at least one Democrat urged a criminal investigation.
Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in that chamber, said Trump’s conduct “merits nothing less than a criminal investigation.”
Trump confirmed in a tweet Sunday that he had spoken with Raffensperger. The White House referred questions to Trump’s re-election campaign, which did not respond Sunday to an emailed request for comment.
Raffensperger’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump has repeatedly attacked the manner in which Raffensperger conducted Georgia’s elections.
“He has no clue!” Trump tweeted of Raffensperger, saying the state official “was unwilling, or unable” to answer questions.
Raffensperger’s Twitter response: “Respectfully, President Trump: What you’re saying is not true. The truth will come out.”