Donald Trump pressured Georgia’s top election official to “find” enough votes to give him a victory in the state, according to an hour-long phone call that The Washington Post published on Sunday (Jan. 3). The call reportedly occurred on Saturday (Jan. 2) between the president and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
“The people of Georgia are angry; the people in the country are angry. And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you’ve recalculated,” Trump told fellow Republican Raffensperger during the call, The Post reports.
“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump continued. “Because we won the state.”
The phone call was Trump’s latest attempt to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the swing state. Reuters reports that during the call, Raffensperger told Trump he was relying on debunked conspiracy theories and that the election results in Georgia were fair and accurate.
“Mr. President, the challenge that you have is [that] the data you have is wrong,” he said.
Raffensperger and his office have declined to comment on reports about the call. Trump and the White House have also declined to comment.
Georgia is one of several battleground states where Trump has alleged massive voter fraud. As a result of the president’s lawsuits, Georgia has conducted three separate ballot counts, which resulted in two official certifications of Biden’s victory. Results showed that the former vice president won 11,779 more votes than Trump.
Although Trump’s lawsuits have repeatedly failed, Congress Republicans are expected to try and halt Biden’s certified victory one more time later this week. On Wednesday (Jan. 6), Congress will count the votes cast by the Electoral College, solidifying Biden’s win. However, some of Trump’s Republican allies are reportedly planning to object to the incoming president’s formal certification.