US President Donald Trump Pressures Georgia Governor to Help Revoke Elections

US President Donald Trump unsuccessfully lobbied the governor of Georgia on Saturday to convene a special legislative session aimed at subverting the results of the presidential election in that state, as Trump’s obsession with his defeat overshadowed the campaign of his party to save his majority in the Senate.

Trump and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp spoke by phone hours before Trump appeared at a rally in Valdosta, Georgia, where Republicans hoped the president would devote his energy to imploring supporters to vote in two second-round elections. On January 5.

But it remained an open question whether his first post-election political rally would be a mission to help his party or himself.

Hours before the event, Trump asked Kemp in the phone call to order the legislative session; the governor refused, according to a senior Georgia government official with knowledge of the call who was not authorized to discuss the private conversation and spoke on condition of anonymity. A person close to the White House who was briefed on the matter verified that account of the call.

According to a tweet from the governor, Trump also asked him to order an audit of the signatures on absentee ballot envelopes from the presidential race in his state, a step Kemp is not authorized to take because he has no authority to interfere in the electoral process in On behalf of Trump.

Trump expressed his frustrations on Twitter after the call.

“Your people refuse to do what you ask,” he complained, as if speaking to Kemp. “What are they hiding? At least immediately ask for a Special Session of the Legislature. That can be done easily and immediately.”

Trump’s personal contact with the governor showed that he intends to amplify his discredited conspiracy theories of voter fraud even as Georgia Republicans want him to focus on the January 5 runoff election and encourage his supporters to come out. and vote.

They are concerned that Trump is raising so much suspicion about the Georgia election that voters will think the system is rigged and will decide not to participate in the two elections, where Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler are trying to resist Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael. Warnock. respectively, and keep the Senate under Republican control.

In his tweet, Kemp said: “As I told the president this morning, I have publicly requested a signature audit three times (11/20, 11/24, 12/3) to restore confidence in our electoral process and ensure that only legal votes are counted in Georgia. “

But one recommendation is all you can do; the governor does not have the authority to order an audit on the race. Additionally, the Georgia race was certified for President-elect Joe Biden and affirmed by state Republican election officials as a fair and counted vote, without any of the systemic errors Trump alleges.

Aides to the president publicly scoffed at the idea that Trump could do anything at the Valdosta evening rally other than encourage Republicans to back Perdue and Loeffler.

“I think it’s the beginning of these two senators crossing the finish line,” said White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany on the eve of Trump’s visit. McEnany credited Trump with being his party’s biggest turnout driver, noting that Republicans cut the majority of House Democrats, while several vulnerable Republican senators survived the challenges by comfortable margins.

But after two pro-Trump lawyers questioned last week whether voting again is worth it, echoing the president’s unfounded allegations of widespread voter fraud, even Vice President Mike Pence betrayed concerns that the Republican coalition could crack under the strength of Trump’s complaints. .

“I know we all have our doubts about the last election, and I heard some of you say, ‘Just don’t vote,'” Pence said Friday while campaigning with Perdue in Savannah. “If you don’t vote, they win.”

Republicans need one more majority seat in the Senate. Democrats need a Georgia sweep to force a 50-50 Senate and position Vice President-elect Kamala Harris as the runoff majority vote.

Few Republicans in Washington or Georgia believe that broad swaths of the electorate on this new battlefield would choose not to vote because of Trump’s false claims or his denigration of the Georgia governor and secretary of state for certifying Biden’s victory in the state.

The risk for the Republican Party is that it wouldn’t matter much if the runoff is as close as the presidential race: Biden won Georgia by about 12,500 votes out of 5 million cast. There is enough noise to explain why Pence felt the need to confront the matter head-on after two Trump loyalists raised the idea that the president’s supporters abandoned Perdue and Loeffler.

“I would encourage all Georgians to let it be known that they will not vote at all until their vote is secure, and I say that regardless of party,” attorney Sidney Powell said last week at a suburban Atlanta rally. “Stop the Steal “.

Lin Wood, a noted Atlanta attorney who has so far filed unsuccessful legal challenges to Biden’s victory, insisted to Trump supporters that the state election is “rigged.”

Trump’s team has recently attempted to dissociate itself from the pair, but only after they were given a prominent platform in the shaky effort to overturn the results of the presidential election. Additionally, Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, returned to the Georgia Capitol Thursday for a marathon hearing that featured another broadcast of disproved claims.

Trump has been the source of the party’s anguish with his recent statements that Kemp is “unlucky” and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is an “enemy of the people” because they did not block Biden’s victory in Georgia. State law gives them no chance to do so.

It resonates with voters like Barry Mann, a 61-year-old businessman who came to listen to Pence in Savannah. Mann has not decided whether he will vote for his senators a second time.

“I think there are some issues with our election and more research needs to be done,” Mann said, adding that he does not believe that Perdue and Loeffler have done enough to support Trump’s efforts to overturn the results. “I want to see what happens between now and January,” Mann said.

A third vote recount, this one requested by the president’s re-election campaign, was nearing completion. Raffensperger could certify the election again as early as Saturday; the result is not expected to change.

– AP