On This Day In 2021
It’s perhaps the most infamous phone call of the century
Trump begs for help in overturning his election loss. OTDI 2021, Trump called Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to discuss Georgia’s results. Trump started by lecturing him about fictional cases of vote tampering, and then got to his real point:
Couldn’t Raffensperger just tip the scales in Trump’s favor? “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” he says in a recorded phone call, before continuing, mob-boss style: “It’s going to have a big impact on Tuesday [certification day] if you guys don’t get this thing straightened out fast.”
Trump went on: “So what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break.”
As smoking guns go, this one is pretty hot. The call is a fascinating window into both Trump’s state of mind—he rambles obsessively—and the nakedly illegal intent of Trump & Co.
It even has funny moments: at one point a Georgia official patiently reminds the president that the number of “dead people voting” is not, as team Trump claims, “upward of 5,000.“ The actual total? “Two. Two people.”
Stay tuned. The call is one of the major pieces of evidence that caused Fulton County DA Fani Willis to file racketeering charges against Trump and his team.
Isn’t it ironic that Trump got tripped up by the same thing that cost one of his favorite predecessors his job? Richard Nixon was forced to resign shortly after a recording was discovered of him talking about the Watergate theft. That involved stealing just a few documents, and yet Nixon had the good sense to quit. Trump’s theft attempt was far more serious than Nixon’s, so Trump also had the good sense to quit.… Wait, sorry, no, he didn’t.
Btw: Some people claim Trump's call with Zelensky was more "infamous." What do you think? Two phone calls, two impeachments.
Read the transcript or listen to the audio on Atlanta News First: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2023/02/15/read-full-transcript-donald-trumps-call-brad-raffensperger/
Catch up with the trial timeline on USA Today: https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2023/02/15/read-full-transcript-donald-trumps-call-brad-raffensperger/peo
Trump Raffensperger Georgia 11780 votes