President Trump
Donald TrumpMcConnell discloses procedures for Trump’s second impeachment trial Trump in the Senate suggests building his own platform after Twitter ban Poll: 18 percent of Republicans support Capitol riots MORE made a “long” phone call to an election investigator in Georgia in December, asking him to “find” election fraud, said an individual familiar with the call The Washington Post.
The individual told the newspaper that the president asked the anonymous investigator to “find the fraud”, adding that the officer would be a “national hero”.
The call was reportedly made just before Christmas, while the investigator was investigating allegations of electoral fraud in Cobb County – an elected county president Joe Biden
Judge Joe BidenUS blocks the Trump administration’s restrictions on asylum eligibility McConnell discloses procedures for a second impeachment trial in the Trump Senate top Trump official ending and reissues a resignation letter to say the exit is in protest MORE Has won. The investigator was investigating the now contested allegations that county election officials wrongly accepted ballots in the mail with signatures that did not match those registered.
Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R) confirmed to the Post that Trump called on December 23, but said he was not familiar with the content of the discussion. He told the newspaper that it was not appropriate for Trump to try to intervene.
“This was an ongoing investigation,” Raffensperger told the Post. “I do not believe that an elected official should be involved in this process.”
CNN also confirmed that the president asked the investigator to “find the fraud”, citing a source familiar with the matter.
Neither the White House nor Raffensperger’s office responded immediately to requests for comment from The Hill.
The call to the investigator came before Trump’s one-hour call to Raffensperger on January 2, in which the president urged the secretary of state to “find” more than 11,000 ballots to reverse the outcome of the Peach state election.
The Post released excerpts from the conference call earlier this month.
Biden won the state of Georgia in November by more than 11,000 votes – the first time a Democrat has won in the trusted red state since 1992, when former President Clinton won a victory there.
“All I want to do is this,” the president said in part. “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we are. Because we won in the state ”.
Trump previously called Governor Brian Kemp
Brian KempLoeffler grants Warnock Shellshocked GOP ponders future with end of Trump Trump’s political career MORE (R) to pressure you to convene a special session of the state legislature to nominate a new set of voters for Trump.
Despite repeated efforts by the president and his campaign to reverse his election defeat, Trump recognized the end of his presidency on Thursday after Congress certified the Electoral College’s vote.
The president, in a video posted on social media, said he was committed to a peaceful transition of power after the violent riots started by a crowd of his supporters who rocked the Capitol on Wednesday.