A government oversight body has asked the Justice Department to investigate the call from former President Donald Trump, urging Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” enough votes to reverse his defeat for Joe Biden.
The common cause filed a complaint on Wednesday with Attorney General Merrick Garland – Biden’s choice to lead the agency, which was confirmed by the Senate hours before the letter was sent – and US Attorney Kurt Erskine requesting an investigation into whether Trump and other officials violated federal government statutes by pressing Georgia’s authorities to subvert the results of state elections.
“Georgians deserve to have confidence in the elections and have the right, according to federal law, to have their votes counted,” said the complaint. “For months, the defeated candidate in the 2020 presidential election, Donald J. Trump, and his supporters tried and conspired in a fraudulent and corrupt way to overturn the results of the presidential election in Georgia. Common Cause asks the DOJ to fully investigate this matter and hold all offenders responsible for their actions. “
The watchdog group specifically cited Trump’s telephone conversation on January 2 with Raffensperger, during which Trump said to the Secretary of State: “All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes.” A recording of the call was launched by The Washington Post.
Trump was defeated by Biden by 11,779 votes out of 5 million votes, making him the first Republican to lose the Peach State in decades. Election officials counted the votes three times and certified the results on two occasions.
Getty Images / Joe Raedle
Last month, Raffensperger’s office opened its own investigation on Trump’s call. The investigation may lead to a criminal investigation by state and local authorities. His office said the investigation was “of an administrative and fact-finding nature”.
But Common Cause President Karen Hobert Flynn said in a statement on Wednesday that the investigation “must be impartial and conducted by police officers who did not play a role in the incidents described in the complaint”.
“The reprehensible and undemocratic pressure applied by President Trump and his allies on Georgia’s electoral authorities was part of a much broader campaign by Trump officials to challenge results in predominantly black and brown communities in states where the election was strongly contested” , added Flynn.
Trump is not the only figure the Common Cause has called to be investigated. The complaint also calls for investigations into whether then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham or attorney Rudy Giuliani violated federal law in their conversations with Georgia officials and lawmakers.
It was reported that Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is already investigating Graham’s call to Raffensperger 10 days after the November election asking if he had the power to retrieve all ballots in certain counties.
Newsweek contacted the Office of the Former President to comment on the complaint, but did not receive a response before publication.