Georgia’s office of state secretary opened an investigation on Monday over Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the state’s 2020 election results, according to a new report.
The office of Brad Raffensperger, the secretary of state, received calls to open an investigation after Trump was recorded on a phone call on January 2 urging Raffensperger to override state election results based on unfounded allegations of electoral fraud.
“The secretary of state’s office investigates complaints it receives,” said Walter Jones, a spokesman for the secretary of state’s office, describing the investigation as “investigative and administrative,” Reuters reported.
“Any other legal efforts will be left to the attorney general,” he said.
Legal experts said Trump’s phone calls may have violated at least three state criminal electoral laws: conspiracy to commit electoral fraud, criminal solicitation to commit electoral fraud and intentional interference with the performance of electoral functions.
Violations of crime and misdemeanors are punishable by a fine or imprisonment.
In the January 2 call, Trump asked Raffensperger, a Republican colleague, to “find” enough votes to nullify his defeat in Georgia to Joe Biden.
The transcript quotes Trump saying to Raffensperger: “All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes,” which is the number that Trump needed to win.
Trump made another call in December to the chief investigator of the Georgia elections, Raffensperger’s office told Reuters.
In addition, two Democratic members of Congress – Kathleen Rice of New York and Ted Lieu of California – requested in a January 4 letter to the FBI a criminal investigation into Trump’s call to Raffensperger.
On January 6 – the day of the United States Capitol riots – Trump boasted of the appeal in a speech to supporters: “People love this conversation because it says what’s going on *, he said. “These people are crooked.”
The pressure for investigations is an illustration of the legal dangers that Trump has faced since he lost the constitutional protections that protect incumbent presidents of lawsuits.
Trump now faces nearly a dozen court battles, including a criminal investigation by Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance, in his business and various civil suits.
Trump described investigations into his family’s business as politically motivated.
David Worley, the only Democrat on the Georgia state election council, planned to make a motion at the council meeting on Wednesday urging state attorney general Chris Carr and Fulton county prosecutor Fani Willis to open a criminal investigation into Trump’s phone calls to election officials.
He said such a move would be unnecessary if the secretary of state’s office had opened an investigation. “If they did that, I won’t have to make my move,” said Worley.
“This is normal when making a complaint. If a complaint is filed, an investigation will be initiated. That’s how it works.”