‘FELLAS, I NEED 11K VOTES’
Don pushes Ga. sec’y to ‘find’ ballots in 1-hr. call
President Trump, in a phone call over the weekend, urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to recalculate the vote tally in the state and “find” enough votes to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Recordings of the heated hourlong conversation were published by The Washington Post and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution shortly after Trump tweeted about the call, saying Raffensperger had been “unwilling, or unable” to look into claims of voter fraud.
During the call with Raffensperger and Raffensperger’s general counsel, Ryan Germany, Trump repeated allegations that ballot boxes were stuffed in Georgia and that he had actually won the election by “hundreds of thousands of votes.”
“The people of Georgia are angry. The people in the country are angry,” Trump said in the taped call.
“And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated.”
But Raffensperger, a Republican, disputed Trump’s contentions, saying at one point, “The challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.”
“So, look, all I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state,” the president said.
“And flipping the state is a great testament to our country because, you know, this is — it’s a testament that they can admit to a mistake or whatever you want to call it. If it was a mistake, I don’t know. A lot of people think it wasn’t a mistake. It was much more criminal than that.”
“I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break. You know, we have that in spades already,” Trump said later in the call.
Raffensperger told the president, “We believe our numbers are right.”
“Mr. President, youou have people that submit information, and we have our people that submit information. And then it comes before the court and the court then has to make a determination. We have to stand by our numbers,” he told Trump.
In Trump’s Sunday tweet, he declared that Raffensperger “has no clue!”
“I spokes to Secretary of State Sta Brad Raffensperger s yesterday about Fulton County and voter fraud in Georgia. He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the ‘ballots under table’ scam, ballot destruction, s out of state s ‘voters,’ dead voters, vo and more,”
So, lookk, all I want to do iis this. I justj want to find 11,780 vottes, which is one more than wee have. Because we wonn the state. President Trump, in a call Saturday with Georgia Secretary of State Bradd Raffensperger (inset below)
The challenge that yyou have is, the dat ta you have is wwrong.
Ra affensperger
Trump wrote in the tweet.
He also warned of “rampant” political corruption in Fulton County and called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (left) and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, both Republicans, a disgrace to the great people of Georgia!”
Also on the call with Trump were White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer who had not been previously connected to the Trump campaign effort.
In a statement, Mitchell said Raffensperger’s office “has made many statements over the past two months that are simply not correct, and everyone involved with the efforts on behalf of the president’s election challenge has said the same thing: Show us your records on which you rely to make these statements that our numbers are wrong.”
During the call, Trump said Raffensperger and Germany were taking a “big risk” and suggested that they could face criminal charges if they didn’t investigate whether votes in Fulton County had been destroyed.
“That’s a criminal offense,” the president said. “And you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer.”
He also told the Georgia secretary of state that his failure to act would jeopardize Tuesday’s runoffs in Georgia for Republican Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler — crucial elections that will determine which party will control the Senate.
“You have a big election coming up and because of what you’ve done to the president — you know, the people of Georgia know that this was a scam,” Trump said.
“Because of what you’ve done to the president, a lot of people aren’t going out to vote, and a lot of Republicans are going to vote negative, because they hate what you did to the president. OK?
“They hate it. And they’re going to vote. And you would be respected, really respected, if this can be straightened out before the election.”
Trump is scheduled to hold a rally for the two Republican incumbents in Dalton, Ga., on Monday.
Biden is expected to hold a rally in Atlanta for their Democratic challengers, Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock.
The news of the call also comes days before scores of Republicans in the House and Senate said they intended on Wednesday to contest Congress’ certification of the Electoral College vote that gave Biden 306 votes over Trump’s 232.
A handful of senators and dozens of House members will officially object to the results — forcing votes in both chambers — although the efforts are not expected to succeed in overturning the election.
The homeless Manhattan man charged in last week’s strangulation rape of a 27-year-old woman had grabbed the throat of his child’s mother months earlier, according to police and court records.
Elijah Kelly, 23 — who was busted Saturday in the New Year’s Eve attack in Kips Bay — also “jumped” his own father in June, the documents claim.
Kelly was released without bail in both cases, which are still pending, when he launched his latest attack, according to cops and the court files.
He allegedly choked his ex in Jamaica, Queens, on May 23. The woman got an order of protection against Kelly in March. But that didn’t stop him from allegedly attacking her two months later.
The woman told cops that Kelly “grabbed her neck with one hand and applied pressure, making it difficult for her to breathe,” according to a criminal complaint.
When she tried to dial 911, Kelly allegedly smashed her phone on the ground, the complaint said.
Kelly was charged with assault, criminal mischief, criminal contempt and aggravated harassment in that case.
In the alleged attack on his father, Kelly is accused of jumping him during an argument in Queens on June 25 and then stealing his phone, according to a criminal complaint.
Kelly, who was charged with harassment and petty larceny in that case, was already facing the charges related to allegedly attacking his ex at the time, the records show.
He had most recently been living in the Bellevue Men’s Shelter, along with more than two dozen registered sex offenders, The Post revealed Saturday. The homeless shelter has long been the subject of neighborhood complaints.
Kelly is now being held in lieu of $100,000 cash bail or $300,000 bond.