- The White House attempted to call Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger 18 times before finally getting him on the phone for President Donald Trump to pressure him to overturn the election, CNN and NBC reported.
- Trump urged Raffensperger to “find” him 11,780 votes during the roughly one-hour call on Saturday, per the Washington Post.
- The conversation has sparked calls from congressional Democrats for a criminal probe into Trump.
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The White House attempted to call Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger 18 times before President Donald Trump’s now infamous call with him on Saturday afternoon, according to reporting from CNN and NBC.
During the call, Trump pressured Raffensperger, a Republican, to “find” 11,780 votes to overturn the election. The president rattled off a slew of false information and conspiracy theories during the conversation, which was recorded and published by the Washington Post on Sunday. Throughout the discussion, Raffensperger rebuffed Trump’s baseless claims and outlandish requests.
“The people of Georgia are angry, the people of the country are angry,” Trump said. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you’ve recalculated.”
“Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong,” Raffensperger said in response.
Raffensperger on Monday suggested that Trump could face a criminal inquiry from the Fulton County district attorney over the call, which has sparked bipartisan backlash in Washington, DC. Two House Democrats, Reps. Ted Lieu and Kathleen Rice, are also pushing for FBI Director Christopher Wray to “open an immediate criminal investigation” into Trump.
In an interview with ABC News, Raffensperger said the data Trump peppered him with during the phone call, which lasted roughly one hour, is “just plain wrong.”
—ABC News (@ABC) January 4, 2021
With just 16 days left in office, Trump has still refused to concede to President-elect Joe Biden as he continues to push the groundless assertion that he lost due to mass voter fraud.
The White House did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.
