The Washington Post has obtained and posted audio of President Donald Trump pressuring Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes,” even going so far to threatening the Secretary and his lawyer with unspecified criminal pressure on Saturday.
The Washington Post obtained a recording of the conversation in which Trump alternately 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 his assertions, explaining that Trump is relying on debunked conspiracy theories and that President-elect Joe Biden’s 11,779-vote victory in Georgia was fair and accurate.
In case the Secretary was too obtuse to get the president’s oh so subtle wiseguy act, Trump got fairly direct in his request.
“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.”
Yeah, ‘recalculated.’ That’s the ticket.
At one point, Godfather Don even threatens Raffensperger’s lawyer.
During their conversation, Trump issued a vague threat to both Raffensperger and Ryan Germany, the secretary of state’s legal counsel, suggesting that if they don’t find that thousands of ballots in Fulton County have been illegally destroyed to block investigators — an allegation for which there is no evidence — they would be subject to criminal liability.
Criminal liability, you say? Did you know soliciting election fraud is a felony in Georgia? One that can’t be pardoned by a briefly installed Q-tip president named Pence?
The recording is pretty amazing. It was obviously recorded by Secretary Raffensperger or his attorney. Georgia is a one-party state, meaning either party can legally record a phone call without the other’s knowledge. Which the Secretary obviously did. And shared. Slipping presidential dentition and all.
If you can, go to the Post site and listen. No transcript yet.
Update: This is, unsurprisingly, the top story in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution right now.
“Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break. We have that in spades already,” Trump said, suggesting more legal action. “Or we can keep it going. But that’s not fair to the voters of Georgia.”
A recording of the roughly hourlong call was obtained on Sunday by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and was confirmed by two people involved in the conversation. It was disclosed a day before Trump is set to stage a rally in northwest Georgia for U.S. Sens. David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler.
This is also top banner on New York Times, USA Today, CNN, etc. FOX News isn’t running it currently.