“All I need to do is this. I only need 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, “Trump said. ” Because we have won the state. “
Georgia counted its votes 3 times before certifying Biden’s victory by a margin of 11,779, Raffensperger noted: “President Trump, we have had several lawsuits and we have had to respond to lawsuits and claims in court. We don’t think you won. “
Audio clips of the verbal exchange were first posted online via the Washington Post. The Associated Press received the full audio of Trump’s verbal exchange with Georgian officials from a user on the call. It is the policy of the Palestinian Authority to magnify incorrect information and unproven accusations. The AP will post the full audio along with a transcript with fact-checking material.
Trump’s renewed intervention and persistent and unsubstantiated allegations of fraud come about two weeks before he leaves the workplace and two days before the Georgia double-time election circular that will determine the policy of the United States Senate. United.
The president used the hour-long verbal exchange to go through a list of allegations related to the Georgia elections, adding the fact that thousands of ballots mysteriously made an impression in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta. Authorities said there is no evidence that this is happening.
Georgian officials on appeal are heard rejecting the president’s claims, telling him that it relies on discredited theories and, in one case, a selectively edited video.
At some other point in the conversation, Trump gave the impression of threatening Raffensperger and Ryan Germany, the secretary of state’s legal adviser, by suggesting that the two could be criminally guilty if they did not find that thousands of ballots in Fulton County had been illegally destroyed. There is no evidence for Trump’s claim.
“It is a crime of criminals,” says Trump. “And you can’t let that happen. “
Other participants in the call included Mark Meadows, the White House staff leader and the attorneys who assisted Trump, Washington attorney Cleta Mitchell.
Democrats and some Republicans condemned Trump’s actions, while at least one Democrat called for a criminal investigation. Legal experts said Trump’s habit raised questions about imaginable violations of election law.
Biden’s senior adviser Bob Bauer called the recording “compelling evidence” of Trump’s tension and risk to an official in his own party to “override a state’s legal and qualified vote recount and consolidate his position. ” .
“It captures the shameful story of Donald Trump’s attack on American democracy,” Bauer said.
Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the second Democrat in this chamber, said Trump “deserves nothing less than a criminal investigation. “
Trump showed in a tweet Sunday that he had spoken to Raffensperger. The White House referred the questions to Trump’s re-election campaign, which did not respond to an emailed request for comment Sunday. Raffensperger’s did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump has attacked the way that Raffensperger conducted elections in Georgia, claiming without evidence that the state’s 16 electoral votes were wrongly attributed to Biden.
“You have no idea!” Trump tweeted about Raffensperger, saying the state official was “unwilling or unable” to ask questions.
Raffensperger’s response on Twitter: “Respectfully, President Trump: What you say is true. The fact will come to light. “
Several election officials across the country and former Trump attorney general William Barr said there was no widespread fraud in the election. The Republican governors of Arizona and Georgia, key battlefield states critical to Biden’s victory, also vouched for the integrity of their national elections. Almost all the demanding legal situations of Trump and his allies have been ignored by the justices, adding two ignored by the Supreme Court, which includes 3 justices appointed through Trump.
In Georgia, ballots were counted 3 times, adding a manual recount and a recount requested through Trump.
Still, Trump publicly scorned the election, concerned by Republicans discouraging the Republican electorate from running in Tuesday’s runoff between Senator Kelly Loeffler and Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican David Perdue opposed to Democrat Jon Ossoff.
Rebecca Green, who is helping to run the electoral law program at William and Mary Law School, said that while it is suitable for a candidate for the final results of an election, the processes for doing so for the presidential election have followed its course. The states have qualified their votes.
Green said Trump had raised “a lot of questions” about the violation of election laws.
Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said Trump is at fault for “reprehensible and, in all likelihood, illegal. “
Trump noted in the call that he will repeat his claims about fraud at a rally Monday night in Dalton, a heavily Republican region in north Georgia.
“The other people of Georgia are angry, the other people of the country are angry,” he said in the recording.
Biden is also scheduled for the Georgia crusade on Monday, and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris was left speechless in Garden City, Georgia, on Sunday, criticizing Trump for the call.
“It is a bald, bald, bold abuse of force on the part of the President of the United States,” he said.
Loeffler and Perdue have largely supported Trump in his attempts to overturn the election results. But on Sunday, Loeffler said he should not join his fellow Republicans in challenging the legitimacy of Biden’s victory over Trump when Congress meets Wednesday to affirm Biden’s 306-232 vote victory in the electoral college.
Perdue, who was in quarantine after being exposed to a staff member with coronavirus, said he supports the challenge, he is not a sitting senator when the vote takes position because his term has expired. Still, he told Fox News Channel that he encouraged colleagues to object, saying it was “something other Americans are not easy on right now. “
His rival, Ossoff, speaking at the Garden City rally, attacked Perdue and Loeffler for failing to protect the Georgian electorate, in particular claiming that the black state electorate was the target.
“When the President of the United States calls elections in Georgia and tries to intimidate them to replace the final election results, to deprive the Georgian electorate, to deprive the black electorate in Georgia that made this state for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, this it is a direct attack on our democracy, ”he said.
———
Superville reported from Washington and Brumback from Atlanta. Associated Press Russ Bynum in Garden City, Georgia, contributed to this report.
Policy 24/7 of the latest news and events.