WASHINGTON – Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said on Monday that he never felt it appropriate to speak to President Donald Trump about the results of the 2020 elections and that the talks Trump had with him and other election officials could represent a conflict of interest that justifies investigating.
When asked on ABC’s “Good Morning America” program if he had spoken to Trump before a phone call he and the president made on Saturday, Raffensperger said, “I never believed it was appropriate to speak to the president.”
Ultimately, the call came after the White House team put pressure on it, Raffensperger said, adding that “I would rather not speak to anyone when we were in dispute,” a reference to Trump’s lawsuit against Georgia over election results.
“We took the call and talked. He said more, we heard, “said Raffensperger.” But I wanted to emphasize that the data he has is simply wrong. “
“In the past two months, we have struggled with the whack-a-mole rumor,” added Raffensperger. “And it was pretty obvious from the start that we debunked each of these theories that existed, but that President Trump continues to believe them.”
Raffensperger received the call on Saturday afternoon, after the White House telephone desk made 18 attempts to get him to speak to Trump in the two months since the general election, according to a Georgia Republican familiar with the call.
Employees at Raffensperger’s office recorded the call and he made it clear to his advisers that he did not want a transcript or audio recording released unless Trump attacked Georgia officials or distorted the conversation, according to the source. Before the audio leaked, Trump attacked Raffensperger on Twitter saying they had a call and that he didn’t get answers to his questions.
Asked if he felt any pressure when Trump told him to find the votes to nullify Biden’s victory in Georgia, Raffensperger told George Stephanopoulos of ABC: “No, I, we have to follow the process, follow the law. Everything we’ve done in the past 12 months follows the constitution of the state of Georgia, follows the constitution of the United States, follows state law. “
In response to the call, the audio of which surfaced on Sunday, David Worley, a Democratic member of the Georgia state election board, chaired by Raffensperger, asked him to open an investigation.
Asked if he would do that, Raffenperger said, “I believe that because I had a conversation with the president, he also had a conversation with our chief investigator after we did the Cobb County signature audit last week, there may be a conflict of interest, I understand, that the district attorney for Fulton County wants to take a look. Maybe it’s the right place for that, ”said Raffensperger.
Two House Democrats sent a letter to FBI director Christopher Wray requesting an investigation into the connection.
As for whether he would vote for Trump again, Raffensperger said he has always supported Republicans and “will probably always support”, but that Trump is not in the 2024 vote, “so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens. “
Julia Jester contributed.