Washington – On Saturday, in a one-hour phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger President Trump he pressured him and other officials to “find” enough votes in the state presidential election to make him the winner, according to the audio of the call obtained by CBS News.
During the call, Trump revealed that it occurred in a tweet last Sunday, the president told Raffensperger, “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we have 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 participated in the discussion.
“The people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry,” Mr. Trump can be heard on the audio recording. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, hey, you’ve recalculated.”
Raffensperger, a Republican, backed down on Mr. Trump’s suggestion and told him that “the data you have is incorrect.” He also repeatedly told Mr. Trump that the election results were accurate and rejected the president’s unfounded claims.
Trump lost the presidential race in Georgia with the president-elect Joe Biden by 11,779 votes. Since the November elections, the ballots voted in the state have been counted three times, with the victory of the president-elect affirmed each time.
The president’s call with Raffensperger marked a significant and startling escalation in his attempts to reverse the outcome of the presidential election. In the weeks since November 3, Mr. Trump has campaigned several times with the goal of nullifying the results, looking at the courts and then state legislatures and now Congress will hand him a second term.
But that of Mr. Trump group of lawsuits have he has largely been fired, and all states have certified their election results. In addition, presidential voters from the 50 states and the District of Columbia met on December 14 to vote again. reaffirming Mr. Biden’s victory.
Still, Mr. Trump has refused to accept the election results, especially in Georgia, and has repeatedly attacked Raffensperger and Gov. Brian Kemp, also a Republican. Mr. Biden’s victory was the first time in nearly 30 years that a Democrat won the state.
In addition to suggesting to Raffensperger that he “find” the votes to reverse his defeat in Georgia, he also repeated unfounded conspiracy theories about Dominion Voting Systems, a company that provided software used in 28 states.
“Do you think it’s possible that they shredded ballots in Fulton County? Because that’s the rumor. And also that Dominion pulled out machines. That Dominion is moving fast to get rid of its machinery. Do you know anything about it?” Because that’s illegal, “Trump asked Raffensperger and his attorney general Ryan Germany, who was also on the call.
Germany told the president, “No, Dominion has not moved any machinery from Fulton County,” and has repeatedly rejected Mr. Trump’s continued claims about whether Dominion “moved the interior parts of the machines and replaced them with others.”
During the call, Trump called Raffensperger “childish” and “dishonest or incompetent” for not believing there was election fraud in Atlanta. The president called himself a “schmuck” for approving Kemp and appeared to threaten Raffensperger and Germany for alleged fraud, although there has been no evidence to support his claims that the ballot boxes were illegally destroyed.
“You know what they did and you won’t report it. This is a criminal, this is a crime,” he said. “And you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk for you and Ryan, your lawyer. And that’s a big risk.”
Trump then claimed the ballots were being shredded and the machinery was removed.
“You can’t let it happen and you’re letting it go,” he said, according to the audio. “I notify you that you are letting this happen.”
Trump said Raffensperger’s refusal to reverse the outcome of the presidential race will deter Republicans from voting Tuesday in a pair of election elections, the results of which will determine which party controls the Senate.
“You have a great election, and from what you’ve done to the president, you know, the people of Georgia know it was a scam,” Trump said. “Because of what you did to the president, a lot of people don’t go out and vote and a lot of Republicans will vote negatively because they hate what you did to the president. Okay? They hate it?” And it would be respected, really respected, if that can be rectified before the election. “
Trump referred to the call last Sunday Twitter, saying he spoke with Raffensperger about Fulton County and alleged election fraud in the state.
“I didn’t want or couldn’t answer questions like the ballots under the table; scam, destruction of ballots, out-of-state “voters,” dead voters and more. You have no idea! “said the president.
In response to Trump’s tweet, Raffensperger dit, “Respectfully, President Trump: What you say is not true. The truth will come out.”
The Congress will be convened in joint session on Wednesday a count and certify the results of the Electoral College. More than 100 members of the GOP House are expected to oppose the results of some states, and a group of about a dozen Republican senators as well plans to challenge the election results unless a commission is appointed to audit the results.
However, their objections are very unlikely to succeed, as both chambers must vote separately to support an objection. With Democrats controlling the House, lawmakers, except guaranteed, will not oust Mr. Biden’s election votes.