Trump pressures Georgia governor to overturn Biden’s win
Joe Biden won by 12,670 votes in Georgia
On Saturday, President Donald Trump called Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp to pressure him into convincing state legislators to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s win.
According to a source who spoke with CNN, Trump asked Kemp to call a special session in order to help convince legislators to select electors that would help him. Trump even asked the Republican governor to order an audit of the signatures on the absentee ballots.
The source confirmed that Kemp denied Trump’s request, emphasizing that he didn’t have the authority to order the specific audit to confirm the president’s claims of voter fraud.
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The Washington Post reported that the White House declined to comment on the phone call.
Trump recently said on Fox News he was “ashamed” of endorsing Kemp who has “done absolutely nothing,” according to the Independent.
Trump took to Twitter to criticize Kemp, accusing his team of hiding information.
Cody Hall, spokesman for Gov. Kemp, confirmed that the two had a conversation but only referenced Trump sending his condolences after the death of Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler’s campaign staffer Harrison Deal.
Hall said in a statement that “Georgia law prohibits the Governor from interfering in elections.”
“The Secretary of State, who is an elected constitutional officer, has oversight over elections that cannot be overridden by executive order,” Hall said. “As the Governor has said repeatedly, he will continue to follow the law and encourage the Secretary of State to take reasonable steps — including a sample audit of signatures — to restore trust and address serious issues that have been raised.”
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Trump will make an appearance in Georgia on Saturday for a rally in support of senators Loeffler and David Perdue for the Senate runoff elections on Jan. 5.
On Nov. 20, Kemp and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger certified that Biden won by 12,670 votes. 5 million ballots were cast across the state.
“Numbers don’t lie,” Raffensperger said in a press conference at the time. “As secretary of state, I believe that the numbers that we are presented today are correct.”
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