U.S. President Donald Trump has reportedly urged Georgia’s top election official to rebalance key state election results in his favor, warning the official that he took a “serious risk” of non-compliance. e, according to an hour – long phone call received by the Washington Post.
During the call Saturday, Trump continued his efforts to reverse the election results in Georgia, where President Joe Biden won by a margin of just under 12,000 votes.
So far, Trump has refused to accept Biden, despite a big loss in the Nov. 3 election. Attempts to reverse the results in several states have failed miserably.
Georgia had already made several studies and statements about the outcome, which confirmed Biden’s influence, and officially confirmed those results, which will be approved by Congress on Jan. 6.
However, Trump told Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger: “So look. I just want to do this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is more than we have. Because we won the state . “
At another point in the phone call, Trump told Raffensperger: “The people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry … And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you’ve recycled.”
Raffensperger replied: “Well, Mr. President, your challenge is, that the data that you have is wrong.”
Since the Nov. 3 election, Trump has repeatedly attacked how Raffensperger ran the Georgia elections, believing without evidence that Biden was wrongly given 16 state election votes.
Fulton County election workers scrutinize votes as they count at Farm Arena on Nov. 5 in Atlanta, Georgia [File: Tami Chappell/AFP]
Trump’s close relatives were on the line during the call, including Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell. Raffensperger general counsel Ryan Germany was also on the call, according to the Washington Post.
The Washington Post said the White House, Trump and Meadows’ campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment, and the Raffensperger’s office declined to comment.
On the Sunday before the post released the recording, Trump tweeted about his call with Raffensperger writing, “He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the‘ ballot under table ’scam, ballot destruction, -out of the state voters, dead voters, and more. He has no clue! “
Raffensperger tweeted a response saying, “Yours sincerely, President Trump: What you say is not true. The truth will come out”.
Yours sincerely, President Trump: What you say is not true. The truth will come out https://t.co/ViYjTSeRcC
– GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (@GaSecofState) January 3, 2021
At another point in the call, Trump suggested that if Raffensperger and Germany do not find thousands of illegally destroyed votes in Fulton County, there is no evidence that they will happen, it is “a crime” .
“And you can’t let that happen.” That’s a big risk for you and Ryan, your lawyer, ”said Trump.
Alan Fisher of Al Jazeera, reporting from Atlanta, Georgia, described the recording as “perhaps the most famous piece of audio that came out of the White House Oval Office from the Nixon tapes of the 1970s”.
Georgia is expected to hold two Senate election elections on Tuesday, which will decide which party will control the chamber.
Trump, who will campaign in support of the Republican candidates in Georgia on Monday, said during the call that he will discuss the fraud allegations during the event.