Jan. 6 committee hears testimony from Ga. secretary of state

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger spent more than four hours this past week testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives’ commission investigating the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol by supporters of Donald Trump.

Raffensperger didn’t say much afterward about what he told the panel. But he did say much of it involved his January phone call with Trump, when Raffensperger fended off the defeated president’s request — some say demand — to “find” enough votes to overturn the results in Georgia’s presidential vote.

“We talked about that and everything else leading into the election. That was their focus, because that was where the greatest disinformation was foisted upon our nation,” said Raffensperger.

Raffensperger said the commission also had his book, “Integrity Counts,” to serve as a reference. In it, he said that during the phone call Trump tried to manipulate him and his general counsel, Ryan Germany, by telling them they were taking a “big risk” if they did not report purported fraud.

He also said that members of the House committee, controlled by Democrats, “might not like everything I had to say.” He said he referred to a “history of stolen election claims” that included Stacey Abrams’ refusal to concede defeat in the 2018 governor’s race to Republican Brian Kemp, as well as discredited conspiracy theories from the 2016 election.

Unlike Trump, Abrams never tried to reverse her election defeat and instead filed litigation seeking to expand access to the ballot. The Democrat also acknowledged that Kemp had won the election.

Brad Raffensperger