GA Secretary of State Raffensperger: “I Never Believed It Appropriate to Speak to the President”

Last updated on January 15th, 2021 at 07:14 am

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger appeared on “Good Morning America” to discuss a phone call he had with President Donald Trump during which the president encouraged Raffensperger to help him swing the election in his favor.

“I never believed it was appropriate to speak to the president,” Raffensperger said about Saturday’s call, noting that the White House had pushed for the call to take place despite his reservations. He added that due to Trump’s lawsuit disputing Georgia’s election results, “he “preferred not to talk to someone when we’re in litigation.”

“We took the call, and we had a conversation. He did most of the talking, we did most of the listening,” Raffensperger said. “But I did want to make my points that the data that he has is just plain wrong.”

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“For the last two months, we’ve been fighting the rumor whack-a-mole,” he continued. “And it was pretty obvious very early on that we debunked every one of those theories that have been out there, but that President Trump continues to believe them.”

Raffensperger was firm that “we have to follow the process, follow the law” and would not overturn the results of a free and fair election despite Trump’s insistence. “Everything we’ve done for the last 12 months follows the constitution of the state of Georgia, follows the United States Constitution, follows state law,” he said.

You can watch Raffensperger’s interview with “Good Morning America” below.

During his phone call with Raffensperger, Trump ignored any argument that went against his insistence that he won an election that has already been decided for President-elect Joe Biden. In fact, several recounts––and an audit of the result––have determined that the election was free and fair. In short, no election fraud took place.

“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 told him.

Later, Trump said, “So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

Alan Herrera

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.