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The outgoing president of the USA, Donald Trump, asked the Secretary of State of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, to “seek” the votes that are necessary to annul the victory in that state of the president-elect, Democrat Joe Biden, reported this Sunday ‘The Washington Post’.
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The capital newspaper published this Sunday on its website audio extracts of a conversation lasting more than an hour between Trump and Raffensperger, Georgia’s highest electoral authority and that, as the ruler, he belongs to the Republican Party.
In the conversation, Trump complimented Raffensperger, then begged him to act and, given his refusal, threatened to bring him to justice and file criminal charges against him, at the same time that he warned him that he was taking a “great risk” by not accepting his requests.
“The people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry (…) And there is nothing wrong in saying, you know? I think your calculations have failed you”, Trump is heard saying in one of the recordings of ‘The Washington Post’.
In response, Raffensperger responded, “Well, Mr. President, the challenge you have is that your data is wrong.”
At another point in the conversation, Trump was more blunt, saying: “Look, what I want is for you to look for the 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won that status“.
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Trump used that figure because Biden beat him by 11,779 votes in the southern state of Georgia, which contributes 16 votes to the Electoral College, the body charged with electing the US president.
In December, the Georgia authorities certified the victory of Biden, who was the first Democrat to win in that state since Bill Clinton did it in 1992 (1993-2001); and, for weeks, they have had to withstand the pressure of the president, who does not recognize his defeat by alleging without proof that there was fraud.
Trump has filed dozens of unsuccessful lawsuits to challenge the outcome without proof in several key states where Biden won, and has also lobbied state officials, including those in Georgia, so that they manipulated what the Americans voted for.
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Biden’s victory became definitively official on December 14, when it was confirmed by the US Electoral College.However, Trump has remained firm in his defiance of the election and hopes to revoke the result on December 6. January, when the two houses of Congress meet to ratify Biden’s victory, in a symbolic gesture that has gained greater importance due to the opposition of the president.
Georgia has become a key state for the future of America in the short term. On January 5, Georgia holds elections in which the two senators who will occupy the two seats that correspond to that state in the Senate will be chosen, something that will serve to decide which party has the majority in that chamber.
EFE
