Trump pressured Georgia U.S. attorney to resign before runoffs

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Georgia U.S. Attorney Byung J. Pak, who was appointed by President Donald Trump, was forced to resign before the Georgia U.S. Senate runoffs due to pressure from The White House.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump was upset with Pak for not making an effort to investigate his claims of voter fraud, even though the claims were unproven.

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Pak resigned abruptly on Monday and expressed to his colleagues in an outgoing email that his leaving was due to “unforeseen circumstances.” Trump reportedly remarked that Pak was a “never Trumper.”

According to the Wall Street Journal, instead of appointing the No. 2 official in the office to take Pak’s place as U.S. attorney until a new one was appointed, Trump named Bobby Christine, U.S. attorney from the Southern District of Georgia, as Pak’s replacement on the same day.

Pak’s resignation comes after audio from an hour-long phone call in which Trump urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in Georgia, was leaked. Trump threatened legal action and said he needed nearly 12,000 votes to overtake Biden.

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A Georgia official told the outlet on Saturday that The White House called for weeks with demands of proof of voter fraud in order to help the Trump administration’s efforts in the multiple lawsuits that were pending.

“They were desperately trying to find evidence for lawsuits that were about to be thrown out of court. They kept telling us that, ‘You need to give us the evidence’ and the truth is there isn’t any evidence to give,” the Georgia official told the outlet.

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