President Trump reportedly told outgoing Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.) that he’d “do a number on her” on stage during the president’s final pre-runoff rally in Georgia last week, a source familiar with the events, Politico reports, citing The Washington Free Beacon’s Eliana Johnson.
Trump told Loeffler what he said about her on stage was contingent upon whether she backed the Electoral College challenge championed by Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), among others.
It’s unclear if Loeffler’s decision to object to the Electoral College vote was directly related to Trump’s alleged threat.
Loeffler ultimately lost to her Democratic challenger Raphael Warnock and wound up voting to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory afterwards. But the report still carries some significance for analysts, who think it’s a microcosm of the larger issues that led to Loeffler’s defeat.
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The report also further suggests that Trump was willing to let the Republican Party lose control of the Senate for personal gain.
Scoop in @playbookplus, guest-written today by @elianayjohnson:
Trump “told Kelly Loeffler before he landed in Georgia for a final rally on Monday that if she didn’t back the Electoral College challenges, he would ‘do a number on her,’ from the stage.”https://t.co/qdxrdmRB1N
— Ryan Lizza (@RyanLizza) January 10, 2021
