Two Democrats have called on the FBI to open a criminal investigation into Donald Trump over a phone call in which he urged Georgia state officials to turn the primary election in his favor.
The U.S. president berated and urged Georgia’s chief election officer Brad Raffensperger to “find enough votes” to reverse Joe Biden’s influence in the state, according to an audio recording released to the public on Sunday.
The outcry sparked a heated debate over whether the call violated federal laws that prohibit elections. Ted Lieu of California and Kathleen Rice of New York, in the House of Representatives, called for a case to be opened.
“As members of Congress and as former prosecutors, we believe that Donald Trump was involved in attempting, or conspiring, to commit a number of election crimes,” he wrote to the FBI director, Christopher Wray. “We urge you to open a criminal investigation into the presidency immediately.”
Under U.S. law, it is an offense to knowingly and voluntarily remove voters from a free or fair election. Eric Holder, a former attorney general, tweeted: “As you listen to the tape consider this federal criminal legislation.”
During the one-hour call Saturday, Trump acknowledged proven fraudulent claims and raised the vague expectation of a “criminal crime” unless Georgia’s secretary of state and other officials change the credential vote count.
“I just want to do this,” the president said. “I just want to get 11,780 votes, one more than we have. Because we won the state. “
Raffensperger, a Republican, noted that Georgia counted its votes three times before confirming Biden ‘s victory with 11,779 votes. “President Trump, we have had a number of lawsuits, and we have had to respond in court to the lawsuits and the controversies,” he said. “We don’t agree you won.”
Trump said: “I won this election with hundreds of thousands of votes.” There is no way to lose Georgia. “He pushed conspiracy theories circulating in the right media, claiming that hundreds of thousands of votes were secretly revealed in Fulton County, which includes Atlanta. officials have said there is no evidence of this.
Interviewed on ABC, Raffensperger said: “It was very clear early on that we would dispel all of these theories early but President Trump still believes them.”
The White House had expected 18 attempts to call up Raffensperger in the past two months before he made talent. Raffensperger said he did so against the better judgment.
“He did most of the talking, we did most of the listening,” he said. “But I want to make my points that the data he has is just wrong. Hundreds and hundreds of his people claimed his vote was dead. We found two. That’s an example of just his bad data. “
When asked if he thought Trump’s request was legal, the secretary of state replied: “I am not a lawyer. All I know is that we are going to follow the law, follow the process. Truth is important, and we have been fighting these rumors for the past two months. “
Trump may have violated Georgia state laws by calling for election fraud. Raffensperger said: “I understand that the Fulton County solicitor is looking into it. Maybe that’s the right place to go. “
Fani Willis, the Fulton DA, said On Monday she received Trump’s call “upset” and if introduced, he would “enforce the law without fear or favor”.
State law is not subject to the primary power of pardon, which Trump has recently used for allies and which some observers believe he could try to claim for himself.
Like so many achievements in the past, Republicans were not critical. Kevin McCarthy, the party’s leader in the House, told Fox News: “The president has always been concerned about the integrity of the election, and the president believes that things have happened in Georgia that he wants. see accountability. “
The incident was in response to a 2019 call in which Trump tried to persuade the Ukrainian president to crack down on Biden by holding back military support. That led to impeachment from the House and freedom from the Senate but it is unlikely to be repeated just two weeks before Trump leaves office.
Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said Trump’s behavior “deserves nothing less than a criminal investigation”.
Bernie Sanders, the independent grandfather of Vermont, MSNBC said: “It’s unique. This is the biggest attack on American democracy in the history of our country … This is what the mafia does… This is beyond shame. This is not only accessible, it is definitely a crime. “
The revelations raised concerns that Trump will never stop to hold on to power. The 10 deputy living defense secretaries published a joint article in the Washington Post warning that the weapons should not be used to alter the outcome of the election.
The tape also threatened to hold runoff elections in Georgia that will decide control of the Senate. Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue have backed Trump. A party breakdown could force some voters to stay home in protest.
Georgia would not be enough to tighten the election to Trump. Biden won the college election 306-232 and the popular vote more than 7 million. Twelve senators and more than 100 Republicans in the House plan to protest when Congress meets to confirm the results Wednesday.
Trump continued to rave against members who were unwilling to join the effort, tweeting: “The ‘Surrender Caucus’ within the Republican party will go down in disrepute as’ -a weak and ineffective defender of our country, who was willing to accept the false primary school certificate of numbers! “
For two months Trump has been blaming his loss to Biden as a result of fraud. Several reviews have rejected these claims and dozens of cases have failed.
Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 election to Trump, tweeted: “Georgia voters, along with a clear majority of Americans, elected Joe Biden to be their president. Trump can’t change that, no matter how many vows he breaks. “