“I am 100% certified to say it was inappropriate. And it certainly didn’t help the situation,” Geoff Duncan told CNN’s Alisyn Camerota on “New Day”. “It was based on disinformation, it was based on, you know, all kinds of theories that have been debunked and disproved over the past 10 weeks.”
The weekend teleconference, which will take place days before Congress certifies Biden’s victory, immediately raised ethical and legal issues and sparked outrage among Democrats, although Republicans avoided criticizing Trump.
Duncan, who voted for Trump in the 2020 election, said he was “disappointed” by the call and defended Raffensperger, saying his answers to Trump’s questions about the legitimacy of the Georgia election were accurate.
“I am certainly happy to have you on the other end of the call, to remain faithful and follow the letter of the law,” he said. “I was proud to hear your voice, I was proud to hear your responses, although they were not what the president wanted to hear or anyone else on that side of the call wanted to hear.”
Duncan, however, hesitated when asked if he believes the call should be forwarded to the state attorney general for investigation, saying he “will let lawyers find this out.”
“I continued to encourage everyone, including the president, to stay focused on tomorrow. That call did nothing, you know, to boost Republican attendance here in Georgia, from Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue,” he said. “I was disappointed and, to be honest, I can’t imagine anyone on that team encouraging this call or giving you the advice to hang up and move on to the next topic.”
This story has been updated with additional comments.