“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,” said Trump during the call, first revealed by The Washington Post.
The investigation by Raffensperger’s office is at a fact-finding stage, Jones said, and any further legal action would be taken by state attorney general Chris Carr. Carr’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters first reported Trump’s investigation on Monday.
Jason Miller, Trump’s senior adviser, responded in a statement on Monday that “there was nothing improper or unpleasant about a scheduled liaison between President Trump, Secretary Raffensperger and lawyers on both sides.”
“If Mr. Raffensperger didn’t want to get calls about the election, he shouldn’t have run for Secretary of State. And the only reason the call went public was because Raffensperger leaked in an attempt to score political points, “said Miller.
Raffenseperger said last month that an investigation into Trump was unlikely to be conducted by his office, but would not rule out a criminal investigation by the Atlanta district attorney at the time.
Georgia’s electoral authorities, including Raffensperger and Governor Brian Kemp, have repeatedly claimed until the day of inauguration that the final election results were fair and pointed to a Biden victory. Raffensperger rejected Trump during the phone call, telling him, “The data you have is wrong.”
House Democrats cited the call in their impeachment article, accusing Trump of intentionally inciting an insurrection.