Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez responded to President Donald Trump‘s leaked phone call begging Georgia officials to call the state in his favor.
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According to The Hill, Ocasio-Cortez admitted she had not listened to the entire recording, which is an hour-long. However, from what she did hear, she believed the President’s pleas should face official investigation. She informed reporters the action committed by POTUS was an impeachable offense.
“I absolutely think it’s an impeachable offense, and if it was up to me, there would be articles on the floor quite quickly,” Ocasio-Cortez said Sunday according to The Hill. ” I mean, he is trying to — he is attacking our very election. He’s attacking our very election.”
theGrio reported an hour-long audio recording was obtained by The Washington Post where Trump lashed out and begged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” votes to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the state. The secretary did not agree to appease the president in his quest to claim victory in the election.
“There’s nothing wrong with saying that you’ve recalculated,” Trump said on the call.
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House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff also shared disdain for the leaked phone calls. Schiff, who led the impeachment inquiry of Trump back in 2019, did not call for impeachment, however, believed it was possible criminal behavior.
“I think it is among the most despicable abuses of power of his long list, possibly criminal, morally repugnant, virulently anti-democratic and dangerous to our democracy,” Schiff said according to The Hill. When asked if the phone call was an impeachable offense, he continued, ” I would need to think about that, but, you know, if it’s potentially criminal, then it’s potentially impeachable, and even in the absence of a crime, it’s potentially impeachable.
theGrio reported Vice President-elect Kamala Harris spoke out against the leaked call during a weekend event in Georgia where she campaigned in support of Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff as election day in the crucial runoff races nears.
“Have y’all heard about that recorded conversation?” Harris asked the crowd at a drive-in rally at Garden City Stadium in Savannah according to the report. “Well, it was certainly the voice of desperation, most certainly that. And it was a bald-faced, bold abuse of power by the president of the United States.”
According to NBC News, House Democrats requested FBI Director Christopher Wray open a criminal probe into the phone call. Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., wrote in a letter to Wray on Monday asking for an investigation.
“As members of Congress and former prosecutors, we believe Donald Trump engaged in solicitation of, or conspiracy to commit, a number of election crimes,” the letter stated. “The evidence of election fraud by Mr. Trump is now in broad daylight.”
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