Trump calls GA Sec of State, begs and threatens him to “find” votes (1 Viewer)

[superchuck500]

This is forking crazy.

The Washington Post obtained a recording of the conversation in which Trump alternately berated Raffensperger, tried to flatter him, begged him to act and threatened him with vague criminal consequences if the secretary of state refused to pursue his false claims, at one point warning that Raffensperger was taking “a big risk.”

 

[V Chip]

Almost no conservatives/Republicans give a crap about any of this. That's the worst part.

 

[Optimus Prime]

Has he made these kind of calls to other states too?

 

[superchuck500]

Gabriel Sterling, Georgia's "Voting Systems Implementation Manager" (an official under the Secretary of State), who's profile pages proclaim him to be a Republican and devout conservative, held a press conference today and railed on Trump's claims, Trump's call, Trump's efforts.

 

[SFIDC3]

He learned his lesson all right. And that lesson was R's would do absolutely nothing to stand in his way.

Not just that, some appear willing to commit treason to merely create the appearance that they are supporting him in this BS, just so they don't anger his "base".....

 

[RobF]

Now, since I’m not a lawyer, when the discovery phase starts wouldn’t that open up records of calls he made to other states? I mean why would this be the only one? Would that not open a rats nest?

There's zero chance of this being the only one, surely, partly because it's very clear these 'perfect phone calls' are a big part of how he operates and partly because just overturning Georgia, if he could somehow have managed that, would still leave him a 290-248 loser.

 

[Saintamaniac]

Has he made these kind of calls to other states too?

I'm hearing and people are saying that he's called Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

 

[wardorican]

I finally read the entire transcript of the call. Man, Trump is just a bulldozer of words.

He's the guy in the meeting that won't shut up and goes on and on and on and on and on and on, and slows down the whole thing.

I was considering reading it again, but deleting all of his comments to see how that would have gone. I bet it would be a lot easier to follow.

This whole sequence is crazy. I love (ok, I hate it, but it's kinda funny) how easily side tracked he was here about Tech.

Germany: This is Ryan Germany. No, Dominion has not moved any machinery out of Fulton County.

Trump: But have they moved the inner parts of the machines and replaced them with other parts?

Germany: No.

Trump: Are you sure, Ryan?

Germany: I’m sure. I’m sure, Mr. President.

Trump: What about, what about the ballots. The shredding of the ballots. Have they been shredding ballots?

Germany: The only investigation that we have into that — they have not been shredding any ballots. There was an issue in Cobb County where they were doing normal office shredding, getting rid of old stuff, and we investigated that. But this stuff from, you know, from you know past elections.

Trump: It doesn’t pass the smell test because we hear they’re shredding thousands and thousands of ballots, and now what they’re saying, “Oh, we’re just cleaning up the office.” You know.

Raffensperger: Mr. President, the problem you have with social media, they — people can say anything.

Trump: Oh this isn’t social media. This is Trump media. It’s not social media. It’s really not; it’s not social media. I don’t care about social media. I couldn’t care less. Social media is Big Tech. Big Tech is on your side, you know. I don’t even know why you have a side because you should want to have an accurate election. And you’re a Republican.

Raffensperger: We believe that we do have an accurate election.

Trump: No, no you don’t. No, no you don’t. You don’t have. Not even close. You’re off by hundreds of thousands of votes. And just on the small numbers, you’re off on these numbers, and these numbers can’t be just — well, why wont? — Okay. So you sent us into Cobb County for signature verification, right? You sent us into Cobb County, which we didn’t want to go into. And you said it would be open to the public. So we had our experts there, they weren’t allowed into the room. But we didn’t want Cobb County. We wanted Fulton County. And you wouldn’t give it to us. Now, why aren’t we doing signature — and why can’t it be open to the public?
And why can’t we have professionals do it instead of rank amateurs who will never find anything and don’t want to find anything? They don’t want to find, you know they don’t want to find anything. Someday you’ll tell me the reason why, because I don’t understand your reasoning, but someday you’ll tell me the reason why. But why don’t you want to find?

Germany: Mr. President, we chose Cobb County —

Trump: Why don’t you want to find . . . What?

Germany: Sorry, go ahead.

Trump: So why did you do Cobb County? We didn’t even request — we requested Fulton County, not Cobb County. Go ahead, please. Go ahead.

Germany: We chose Cobb County because that was the only county where there’s been any evidence submitted that the signature verification was not properly done.

Trump: No, but I told you. We’re not, we’re not saying that.

Mitchell: We did say that.

The last bit makes me chuckle too.. getting corrected by the Lawyer.

 

[Optimus Prime]

I'm hearing and people are saying that he's called Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Wonder if there are tapes of those calls and there is more to come

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Wonder if there are tapes of those calls and there is more to come

Possibly not. I think the main reason Raffensperger said they recorded the call and had the lawyer present was because of the pending litigation the campaign has against the state.

 

[saintmdterps]

I hope this tilts the balance in the Georgia run-off elections and both of Trump's sycophants lose, passing control of the Senate to the Democrats who then spend the next two years laying complete waste to trumpism and the Trump "legacy" in the White House.

The only legacy Trump leaves is that of the most corrupt POTUS in history.

 

[ktulu909]

I listened to the entire call this morning, since I didn't want snippets and cherry picked quote. It was mindnumbingly painful, and I was waiting for the guys from Georgia to pull a Biden and just tell Trump to just shut the hell up man. I feel dumber for having listened to it all.

 

[FullMonte]

Possibly not. I think the main reason Raffensperger said they recorded the call and had the lawyer present was because of the pending litigation the campaign has against the state.

Which raises another question...if the campaign has a case pending against the state, isn't it also illegal for Trump to be personally contacting a state official? Shouldn't that be done by the lawyers?

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Which raises another question...if the campaign has a case pending against the state, isn't it also illegal for Trump to be personally contacting a state official? Shouldn't that be done by the lawyers?

Well of course. There's a story out there that he tried calling him 18 times before they took this call. Like what the hell, Donny? He's not that into you.

 

[efil4]

Which raises another question...if the campaign has a case pending against the state, isn't it also illegal for Trump to be personally contacting a state official? Shouldn't that be done by the lawyers?

He has been operating this way for decades. How do you think he has avoided prosecution time and time again? It ain't cuz Mike Cohen is some wunderkind attorney.

You just got a glimpse into how he has operated since the 80s.

 

[Bigdaddysaints]

 

[superchuck500]

Possibly not. I think the main reason Raffensperger said they recorded the call and had the lawyer present was because of the pending litigation the campaign has against the state.

He also said that the only reason he released the recording was because Trump was lying about it. (Because he lies about literally everything).

Raffensperger also revealed that he was not planning to release the tape of the call with Trump, but then Trump lied about it on Twitter. Once again, Trump is his own worst enemy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/05/really-bad-day-dirty-dozen/

 

[zztop]

Has Susan Collins gone on record yet of expressing "doubts and concerns, but convinced that he won't ever do it again" ?
(you know, like what she said the previous 4 years, but still sided with her republican cohorts anyway)

 

[TaylorB]

Trump replaces GA federal prosecutor two days after asking GA Sec of State to commit election fraud:



Most discussions I've seen about Trump's criminal exposure (for this particular escapade) focus on state laws, but he's also potentially exposed under 25 U.S.C. 20511 which criminalizes knowingly and willfully depriving, defrauding state residents of a free and fair election, or attempting to do so. There's no additional public information confirming that this is an attempt by Trump to protect himself, but it certainly has that feel given that Trump only has the authority to replace federal prosecutors, and not state ones.

I'd put the odds at Trump attempting a self-pardon, or a step-down-Pence-pardon, at +85%.