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© Thomson Reuters 2021.In recorded call, Trump pressures Georgia official to 'find' votes to overturn election
By Andy Sullivan and Michael Martina WASHINGTON©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
60 Comments
SuperLib
Trump fans know this is un-American and undemocratic but will support it anyway because they support Trump over our country and Constitution.
albaleo
I can sympathize. When people promise you that everything is all set up, you're bound to get angry when it doesn't work out. I'd feel the same if some Russian accented people sold me a guaranteed winning lottery ticket.
SuperLib
Some of the exchanges are insane to read, sounding more like an annoyed parent swatting away a child begging for something.
(first)
Trump: “...Dominion took out machines. That Dominion is really moving fast to get rid of their, uh, machinery. Do you know anything about that? Because that’s illegal.”
Germany responded: “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.”
(second)
"When [Trump] claimed that more than 5,000 ballots were cast in Georgia in the name of dead people, Raffensperger responded forcefully: 'The actual number was two. Two. Two people that were dead that voted.'"
(third)
But he continued to make his case in repetitive fashion, until finally, after roughly an hour, Raffensperger put an end to the conversation: “Thank you, President Trump, for your time.”
PTownsend
Trump was a corrupt businessmale and an even more corrupt politician. He's the most dishonest, unethical politician ever seen in US politics. The Republican Party, long described as a bucket of snakes, is forever stained by supporting him.
starpunk
Even if I were a Republican in office, I wouldn't want anything to do with this ill-mannered loudmouth. I wouldn't want this embarassing childish boor on the same side as me. Would you?
Ah_so
Wow. Yet more evidence of what kind of person Donald Trump is.
And yet his loyal fan base will see nothing wrong with this. Many of them were cheering for his martial law proposal
Bob Fosse
Mr Raffensperger for President. He speaks his mind, has a spine and the backbone to stand up against corruption. All the things trump fans say they want in a leader.
buchailldana
Again the scariest thing is how many Americans will think he has done nothing wrong, that he is trying to protect the "integrity of the election".
This unleashed can of worms is going to infect America for a long time
ulysses
Delusional and impaired!!!
A sorry end to a joke of a presidency.
starpunk
This is nothing less than outright treason and vanity.
The evils and crimes this fascist weasel has done is going to infect and affect America for decades.
Raffensperger shouldn't have used such polite language with this spoiled brat! And what more TRUTH is going to 'come out' and be discovered 17 days or so from now?
ulysses
Some people are saying trump sounds like a crime boss!!!
Crime bosses are deviants, they are evil but they are not dumb!!!
This call was just plain dumb!!!!
PTownsend
They'll dismiss it as 'fake news'. Trump's supporters (US and 'foreign') are fully onboard with their cult leader in his attempts to destroy the republic.
David Varnes
Like most of his life, Trump is a wannabe.
Wannabe successful businessman.
Wannabe tough guy 'soldier/warrior.'
Wannabe ladies' man (paying for it in the end)
Wannabe casino boss.
Wannabe football team owner.
Wannabe mob boss.
Basically, any stereotype of a 'tough guy/street fighter' that Trump has absorbed, he tries to model himself after. But like most of his attempts, his extortion call here was ham handed, inept, and dumb.
SandyBeachHeaven
One second after Biden sworn in the feds should arrest Trump
takeda.shingen.1991@gmail.com
I'm kind of curious what impact this will have on the Georgia Senate elections. I can imagine it'd improve the odds for Democrat candidates.
u_s__reamer
Another "perfect" phone call from the Prez.
Midnight Sun Tribe
I guess, dissatisfied with the lack of voter fraud and the lack of traction of his lies with reasonable persons of any stripe, the president of the USA is attempting to drum up a little voter fraud of his own. One cannot imagine that this will decrease democratic turnout in Georgia.
NCIS Reruns
I wonder what other crazy antics we can expect over the next 17 days.
Jimizo
Great Tweet:
”It’s just locker room sedition”
Numan
Is anyone surprised that a known criminal is trying to cheat during the presidential election again?
OssanAmerica
If Trump is not insane then on January 21st he needs to be charged with criminal violation of election laws. If Trump is insane then he needs to be removed from office immediately under Article 25 and Pence assume the Presidency for the next 17 days.
Numan
This is nothing new! American values were built on killing and stealing from Native Americans, enslaving Africans, and discriminating against women and POC.
The GOP are currently angry that they did not do enough to suppress the minority vote during this presidential election.
Toasted Heretic
Can this madman be impeached again?
Numan
Yeah, once again the president projecting his own efforts to commit voter fraud by claiming everyone else is committing voter fraud.
Somebody can not get over the fact that they are an international loser that lost to "Sleepy Joe"!
theFu
Trump is trying to cause the most election fraud. Lock him up!
I'm not worried. Raffensperger has a sense of duty to follow Georgia law. Trmp will be dead in a few yrs from natural causes. No need to listen to him, President-Reject.
Plus we have a list of idiot Senators in the GOP to be banned from politics for life since they tried to violate US election laws to keep Trump. Acting like a bunch of 2 yr olds, they are.
jack o helen
Extortion is a criminal offense and Trump can be punished just on that alone. I'm sure there are more offenses he has committed though. It's almost a guarantee now that he will go to jail. If he doesn't, then it will leave a big stain on the integrity of the American justice system.
lincolnman
"Hey Raffensberger, this is your Godfather calling....you need to find 11,700 votes, capiche?
I don't care where you find them, but make it happen - now - or you know what comes next..."
Unfortunately, this is not a movie...
Runtu DaHilz
Washington DC January 6 will be interesting.
Anonymous
Send him to jail!
Trump The Almighty Dictator is extremely cunning as almighty dictators must be.
For elaboration on this see:
https://greenwald.substack.com/p/the-threat-of-authoritarianism-in
Simon Foston
PTownsendToday 08:07 am JST
I'm surprised that some of them haven't turned up to tell us the MSM have taken one line out of the phone call and twisted it out of context, or that the Dems did the same thing in 2000 or whenever.
Starbucks
You libs are funny. Can't you tell that it was sarcasm? If the jetsetter Texan was here he'd tell you.
rainyday
Trump supporters sure are quiet on this one.
The Avenger
That is sedition and should be treated as such. Call it out. Prosecute it.
Trump is so desperate because he knows what awaits in NY State is prosecution, conviction, and a jail cell.
starpunk
It states it right there, brothers and sisters. So why is TrashTrump so obssessed with Georgia? Can't he face the TRUTH? HE LOST!!!!! He's wasting his time.
And if he does try to call the Armed Forces into interfering against ByeDon, I hope they mutiny. The military is supposed to be apolitical and Trump sure doesn't respect them. He hasn't yet.
u_s__reamer
America needs another impeachment at "warp speed" before Inauguration Day to make sure Trump does not dishonor the occasion with his disruptive antics.
Bob Fosse
trump’s ‘logic’ behind apparently clearly winning Georgia is that more people went to his rallies. Or is that taken out of context from a perfect phone call again?
Stable genius.
Sh1mon M4sada
I hope this recording turn out to be a deep fake, because if it's real,tghen the GOP is tearing itself apart, ie openly obstructing investigations, dubious internal investigations etc, just to get rid of Trump.
I listened to the full tape, no one came accross with credibility.
Bob Fosse
Lock him up! Stop the sedition! Build the cell! Build the cell!
nukkuheddo
if someone swears an oath to uphold the constitution and then is recorded pressuring state officials (who've counted the votes 3 times - and had a signature matching audit) to over turn a certified election - are there not legal consequences?
Silvafan
HAHAHA!!!
Another example of "trump's perfect call" just like the one that got him "impeached"!!!
lincolnman
Trump pressures Ukraine to launch a faux investigation of Hunter Biden and get's caught on tape asking the Ukraine President to "do us a favor", then is impeached and almost tossed out in disgrace....and you'd think he might learn a lesson....
Nope, he turns right around and gets caught on tape trying to pressure the Georgia Sec of State to find some "faux" ballots to overturn an election...
Well, you know what they say, you can't teach an old tyrant and con-man new tricks...
In six months, I can see Trump asking the Rikers Island Warden to "do him a favor" and let him out for good behavior...
lincolnman
Carl Bernstein nailed it...
Nixon was impeached for condoning a criminal break-in - then trying to cover it up. Bad, but he didn't try to directly influence an election...
Trump is calling up the Georgia Sec of State, the official responsible calculating and certifying election results, and is caught on tape asking him to change the results...and even create fake votes...
In 1973, a group pf Repub Senators went to Nixon and told him the game is up and he needed to resign...
On 2021, a group pf Repub Senators are backing Trump's attack on democracy....
That tells you everything you need to know about what the Republican party has become...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/carl-bernstein-trump-far-worse-watergate_n_5ff232bcc5b6ec8ae0b3a50f
PTownsend
"As shown on TV"? Even better than "as shown on the internet".
How about Roger Stone's (the convicted felon) 'North Korean fishing boats delivering ballots to Maine' or the wack right's 'alien reptiles'. Both can be found on the internet, and were probably shown on RT TV, Fox, a Sinclair TV station - with 'documentation.
But I know the wack right no longer trust 'western' sources. Too many 'experts' ( a negative word in their vocabulary). Y'all will wait to see what the Kremlin reports. While you claim to be patriotic 'Americans'.
Madverts
Sedition is a word we're going to hear a lot in '21
Silvafan
The real irony is that trump just got caught on audio attempting to commit election fraud, again!!!!!
Silvafan
Here are the crimes committed by trump on that call:
Section 52 of the U.S. Code concerns voting and elections, and provides for a sentence of up to five years for:
“A person, including an election official, who in any election for Federal office
(1) knowingly and willfully intimidates, threatens, or coerces, or attempts to intimidate, threaten, or coerce, any person for-
(A) registering to vote, or voting, or attempting to register or vote;
(B) urging or aiding any person to register to vote, to vote, or to attempt to register or vote; or
(C) exercising any right under this chapter; or
(2) knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process, by
(A) the procurement or submission of voter registration applications that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held; or
(B) the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held.”
trump’s citing possible criminal charges for Raffensperger unless he produces a different election result in Georgia could be seen as extortion, which section 18, chapter 41 of the U.S. code expressly prohibits.
What a clear and utter fool trump is!
Zaphod
Silvafan
Err no. Rather, the fake media once again took a snippet out of context to distort the content.
If you go to a conservative site, you can see the soundbyte in context, and it suddenly it is completely different:
https://www.newsmax.com/politics/trump-georgia-raffensperger/2021/01/03/id/1004057/?ns_mail_uid=55e3f491-eb28-44d8-9801-3b2a8829d27f&ns_mail_job=DM179669_01032021&s=acs&dkt_nbr=010124m1vx2y
And that is why I always recommend to look outside the echo chamber. If you only stay inside it, you never see the broader picture.