US President Donald Trump badgered and pleaded with Georgia’s election chief to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state, suggesting in a telephone call that the official “find” enough votes to hand Mr Trump the victory.
The conversation Saturday was the latest step in an unprecedented effort by a sitting president to pressure a state official to reverse the outcome of a free and fair election that he lost.
The renewed intervention and the persistent and unfounded claims of fraud by the first president to lose re-election in almost 30 years come nearly two weeks before Mr Trump leaves office and two days before twin runoffs in Georgia that will determine control of the Senate.
Mr Trump confirmed in a tweet Sunday that he had spoken to Georgia’s secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensperger, who tweeted that claims Mr Trump made during the call were untrue.
Audio snippets of the conversation were posted online by The Washington Post. A recording of the call was later obtained by The Associated Press from a person who was on the call.
Respectfully, President Trump: What you're saying is not true. The truth will come out https://t.co/ViYjTSeRcC
— GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (@GaSecofState) January 3, 2021
The president, who has refused to accept his loss to the Democratic president-elect, is heard telling Mr Raffensperger at one point: “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.”
Georgia certified election results showing that Mr Biden won the state’s November 3 election by 11,779 votes.
Mr Trump has repeatedly attacked the way Mr Raffensperger ran Georgia’s elections, claiming without evidence that the state’s 16 electoral votes were wrongly given to Mr Biden.
“He has no clue!” Mr Trump tweeted of Mr Raffensperger, saying the state official “was unwilling, or unable” to answer questions about a series of claims about ballot handling and voters that have been debunked or shot down by judges and election authorities.
Mr Raffensperger responded on Twitter: “Respectfully, President Trump: What you’re saying is not true. The truth will come out.”
There was no widespread fraud in the election, which a range of election officials across the country, as well as Mr Trump’s former attorney general, William Barr, have confirmed.
Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, key battleground states crucial to Mr Biden’s victory, have also vouched for the integrity of the elections in their states.
Nearly all the legal challenges from Mr Trump and his allies have been dismissed by judges, including two thrown out by the Supreme Court, which includes three Trump-nominated justices.
