In a stunning audio recording obtained by The Washington Post, President Donald Trump is heard pressuring Republican Georgia secretary of state aBrad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn his defeat in the state.
In the extraordinary one-hour phone call, a rambling and at times incoherent Trump “berated” Raffensperger, tried to flatter him, begged him to act and threatened him with vague criminal consequences if the secretary of state refused to pursue his false claims, at one point warning that Raffensperger was taking “a big risk.”
Throughout the call, Raffensperger and his office’s general counsel rejected Trump’s assertions, explaining that the president is relying on debunked conspiracy theories and that President-elect Joe Biden’s 11,779-vote victory in Georgia was fair and accurate.
“The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry,” he said. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated,” Trump added.
“Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong,” Raffensperger responded
“So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state,” an exasperated Trump said.
As noted by The Post, the stunning conversation offered a remarkable glimpse of how consumed and desperate the president remains about his loss, unwilling or unable to let the matter go and still believing he can reverse the results in enough battleground states to remain in office.
Several of Trump’s allies were on the line as he spoke, including White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and conservative lawyer Cleta Mitchell, a prominent GOP lawyer whose involvement with Trump’s efforts had not been previously known.
Listen:
Wow. WaPo just released a recording showing President Trump attempting to blackmail Georgia's Secretary of State to overturn the election.
Listen: pic.twitter.com/33SO6Tyx8u
— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) January 3, 2021
The White House, the Trump campaign and Meadows did not immediately respond to a Washington Post request for comment.
You can read more at The Washington Post.
