Donald Trump lobbied Georgia’s official secretary of state
Washington, United States:
President Donald Trump lobbied Georgia’s secretary of state in a remarkable telephone conversation Saturday to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the southern state, media reported Sunday.
The secretly recorded conversation with fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, first reported by the Washington Post, includes threats that Raffensperger and another Georgia official could face “great risk” if they do not comply with his request.
“The people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry,” Trump is heard saying on the tape, part of which was broadcast on CNN.
“And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you’ve recalculated,” says the president. “You are out of place by hundreds of thousands of votes.”
Raffensperger is heard responding, “Well, Mr. President, the challenge you have is that the data you have is wrong.”
Biden won Republican-leaning status by less than 12,000 votes, an unchanged margin after recounts and audits. None of Trump’s accusations have been supported.
Even a hypothetical investment would not deprive Biden of victory.
The news of the recording came at an extraordinary moment, two days before the special second-round elections in Georgia that will decide control of the United States Senate, and three days before Congress certifies the results of the elections of the United States. November 3.
That normally routine certification is now being challenged by dozens of lawmakers at Trump’s behest.
‘Contempt for democracy’
Before the release of the audio, Trump tweeted about the call, saying that Raffensperger “was unwilling or unable to answer questions such as ‘ballot under the table’ scam, destruction of ballots, out-of-state ‘voters’, dead voters. , and more.”
After the statement, the White House declined to comment.
Democrats were quick to condemn the call.
“Trump’s contempt for democracy is exposed,” Rep. Adam Schiff said on Twitter. “One more time. On tape.
“Pressuring an election official to ‘find’ the votes and win is potentially criminal, and another blatant abuse of power by a corrupt man who would be a despot, if we allow it. We will not.”
Some political commentators compared the call to the Watergate tapes that led to the downfall of President Richard Nixon.
John Dean, an attorney for Nixon in the White House before turning against him, told CNN that the new tape was “very damning for the president.”
“It is very ugly”.
Trump has waged an all-out fight against the election results. But dozens of accounts and lawsuits, as well as a review by his own Justice Department, have failed to substantiate the claims.
At one point, he invited Michigan Republican election officials to the White House in an apparent effort to pressure them to certify their vote.
He also lobbied Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, in a separate phone call.
Raffensperger and other election officials who have rejected Trump’s pleas, in Georgia and other states, have received death threats from their supporters.
It was unclear who released the tape, but under Georgia law, Raffensperger could have legally recorded it without Trump’s consent.
.
