Departing United States President Donald Trump on January 2 repeatedly pressured fellow Republican and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” more votes to overturn election results in the state’s presidential contest, according to a recorded phone call which was released by the U.S. media.
During the call which was a one-hour long phone call, released by the Washington Post, Trump repeatedly begs Raffensperger to declare he had more votes than Biden. He later went on to threaten with criminal consequences if Raffensperger refused to back his claims.
“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump says, according to audio of the call. “There’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you’ve recalculated.”
Raffensperger and his office’s general counsel reject Trump’s assertions and tell the president that he was relying on debunked conspiracy theories spread on social media about what was a fair and accurate election.
“Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong,” Raffensperger says.
The White House declined to comment. Raffensperger’s office did not respond to requests for comment as well.
Reuters
