Former President Trump continues to sow distrust in the American electorate, but the January 2 phone call with Raffensperger demonstrated new efforts to overturn a democratic election. During the call, Trump told Raffenspberger to “find 11,780 votes.” On top of that, Trump continued to tell Georgia election officials that, “You don’t have [an accurate election], you don’t have. Not even close,” even after a multitude of criminal investigations into the election process.
Raffensperger, a Republican, continued to deny Trump’s claims of fraudulent behavior, saying, “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have…the data you have is wrong.” After overseeing three recounts of the November vote, Raffensperger holds to the fact that Biden won Georgia by a small margin.
“I am 100% certified to tell you that it was inappropriate. And it certainly did not help the situation” says Geoff Duncan, Georgia’s Republican lieutenant governor. “It was based on misinformation, it was based on, you know, all types of theories that have been debunked and disproved over the course of the last 10 weeks.”
Many lawmakers from across the aisle have condemned the former resident’s behavior. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris called the conversation a “bold abuse of power.” Even former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan referred to the call as an “anti-democratic” act. Legal experts around the United States have agreed with both Harris and Ryan, and also pointed out that Trump’s language could qualify as extortion of election results, illegal in the state of Georgia.
In addition, this is not an isolated incident for the former president. Trump was previously impeached for using similar language in calls to Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelfensky saying, “I would like you to do us a favor, though,” seemingly asking the country to open an investigation into his opponent, Joe Biden.
While Trump vehemently opposes certifiable election results, the system of America’s democratic process continues.
