Donald Trump is still asking for a recount of the votes in Georgia from the election in November. This time, he made a phone call directly to the Secretary of State.
What We Know:
- President Donald Trump begged Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn the election results in an astounding hour-long phone call obtained Sunday by NBC News. The president offered a smorgasbord of false claims about voter fraud and repeatedly berated state officials. Excerpts of the call, which took place Saturday, were first published Sunday by The Washington Post.
- The phone call featured Trump, days before he is set to leave office, pleading with Raffensperger to alter the vote total. Trump launched into a barrage of discredited conspiracy theories about the election. Trump even suggested that Raffensperger, who is a Republican, may face criminal consequences should he refuse to intervene in accordance with his wishes. Others involved with the call included Mark Meadows, the White House chief of staff, attorneys assisting Trump, and Washington lawyer Cleta Mitchell.
- The phone call with Raffensperger on Saturday was the latest step in an unprecedented effort by a sitting president to pressure a state official to reverse the outcome of a free and fair election that he lost. The president, who has refused to accept his loss to Democratic president-elect Biden, repeatedly argued that Raffensperger could change the certified results.
- Georgia counted its votes three times before certifying Biden’s win by an 11,779 margin. Raffensperger noted: “President Trump, we’ve had several lawsuits, and we’ve had to respond in court to the lawsuits and the contentions. We don’t agree that you have won.” Recently, an audit of signature matches in Cobb County found ‘no fraudulent absentee ballots’, Raffensperger’s office announced.
You can listen to the full audio of Trump’s phone call with the Georgia secretary of state at the link provided.
