- Bobby Christine, the new US attorney who oversees federal prosecutions in Atlanta, said in a liaison with officials that he was pleasantly surprised to find that there were no legitimate cases of electoral fraud, according to a recording obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
- President Donald Trump appointed Christine after he allegedly pressured his predecessor to step down due to a lack of electoral fraud cases.
- Christine said she has already ruled out the two most important cases her department was looking at, which he said has no merit.
- Trump tried to overturn the results of the election he lost by focusing his efforts on Georgia.
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The newly appointed federal prosecutor in Atlanta said in a conference call with officials on Monday that he was surprised to find that the office had no legitimate case of electoral fraud.
“Frankly, just watching television would you assume you have election cases stacked from floor to ceiling,” said US Attorney Bobby Christine in a recording of the call obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “I am very happy to know that it was not the case, but I did not know how to get in.”
President Donald Trump appointed Christine to the position of United States Attorney General in the northern Georgia district on January 5, after his predecessor, Byung Pak, abruptly resigned. US prosecutors typically remain in office until the end of the presidential administration and often continue in new roles.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Trump pushed Pak, also named by Trump, to step down. According to the Journal, Trump was frustrated because Pak had not initiated investigations into election fraud in Georgia, which election officials and independent experts agree does not exist.
Typically, when a U.S. attorney resigns, the role would go to his deputy, but Trump bypassed that process and chose Christine, who is also a U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. The Northern District of Georgia includes the city of Atlanta, which has a large black population and where Trump has focused his efforts to eliminate votes.
But in recording the calls obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Christine told officials that she rejected two of the most profound investigations of electoral fraud on her first day, finding that they were without merit.
“I closed the two more – I don’t know, I think you’d call them high-profile or the two most urgent electoral issues this office has,” said Christine. “I said I believe, as many of the people around the table believed, there is nothing for them.”
Christine donated $ 2,800 to Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the maximum allowed by law.
In the recording, officials from the Northern District office asked Christine if he was nominated for political reasons and why Pak’s deputy was not chosen for the role. Christine declined to discuss why he was appointed.
Trump focused his efforts to annul the election in Georgia
Since losing the presidential election on November 3, Trump has falsely claimed that he really won and promoted several conspiracy theories about electoral fraud. He and his allies filed more than 40 lawsuits questioning the results, none of which were successful.
Trump’s efforts to reverse his defeat have focused on Georgia, where he lost less than 12,000 votes and became the first Republican to lose the state in a presidential election in 28 years. The results were confirmed in several state performance audits. Later, Democrats won both Senate races.
Glynn County Sheriff Neal Jump, left, talks to U.S. attorney Bobby Christine on June 4, 2020 in Brunswick, Georgia.
Sean Rayford / Getty Images
In a call with Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in early January, Trump appeared to pressure him to participate in electoral fraud and “find” votes that would allow him to win the state. The call generated new impeachment requests.
Trump is expected to be charged again on Wednesday after inciting a crowd to break into the U.S. Capitol building to prevent Congress from certifying Biden’s victory. At a rally before the insurrection, Trump once again falsely claimed that he won and that the presidential election was marked by widespread electoral fraud.
Christine told officials in the Northern Georgia District that she brought two electoral fraud officials from her Southern District office to examine allegations of fraud, but ended up rejecting the main cases the district was examining.
“In my opinion, there is no, there, “he said.