Georgia’s Brad Raffensperger ‘never believed’ Trump call was appropriate
Officials in Raffensperger's office recorded the call and were to only release it if Trump attacked the Georgia Secretary of State
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has joined the chorus of those who believe that President Trump should not have spoken to him about the 2020 election and that an investigation may be warranted.
Raffensperger appeared on Good Morning America on Monday to address the controversy that erupted over the weekend. As theGrio reported, Trump called Raffensperger and demanded that officials in Georgia “find” votes in the Peach State and overturn the Georgia election in his favor.
Read More: Harris slams Trump’s leaked call with Ga. official: ‘Voice of desperation’
President-elect Joe Biden won the state with 49.5% of the vote last November.
“So look, 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. So, so tell me, Brad, what are we going to do? We won the election and it’s not fair to take it away from us like this, and it’s going to be very costly in many ways,” Trump said on the recorded call.
The Washington Post obtained the hour-long conversation that was recorded by officials in Raffensperger’s office.
“I never believed it was appropriate to speak to the president,” Raffensperger told GMA.
The White House had been attempting to connect Trump with Raffensperger at least 18 times, according to sources. Raffensperger said he resisted until Saturday because he “preferred not to talk to someone when we’re in litigation.”
Trump has contested the results in tweets and lawsuits to challenge Biden being declared the winner.
Read More: Did Trump break the law in leaked call with Georgia Secretary of State?
“We took the call, and we had a conversation. He did most of the talking, we did most of the listening,” Raffensperger said. “But I did want to make my points that the data that he has is just plain wrong.”
“For the last two months, we’ve been fighting the rumor whack-a-mole,” Raffensperger added. “And it was pretty obvious very early on that we debunked every one of those theories that have been out there, but that President Trump continues to believe them.”
Raffensperger did not want the recording released unless the president attacked him, which he did.
“I spoke to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger yesterday about Fulton County and voter fraud in Georgia. He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the “ballots under table” scam, ballot destruction, out of state “voters,” dead voters, and more. He has no clue!” Trump tweeted.
Raffensperger told Stephanopoulos that he would not be pressured by Trump into reversing Biden’s victory.
“No, I, we have to follow the process, follow the law. Everything we’ve done for the last 12 months follows the constitution of the state of Georgia, follows the United States Constitution, follows state law.”
Raffensperger agreed that an investigation may be needed to determine if Trump abused his power.
“I believe that because I had a conversation with the president, also he had a conversation with our chief investigator after we did the signature match audit of Cobb County last week, there may be a conflict of interest, I understand, that the Fulton County district attorney wants to look at. Maybe that’s the appropriate venue for it to go,” Raffensperger said.
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