A Georgia prosecutor is investigating potential efforts by former President Trump’s effort to influence last year’s general election.
Two grand juries convened in Fulton County on Thursday. At the heart of District Attorney Fani Willis’s investigation is the call between Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
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In a Jan. 2 telephone conversation with Raffensperger, Trump repeatedly suggested Raffensperger could change the certified results of the presidential election, an assertion the secretary of state firmly rejected.
“All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump said. “Because we won the state.”
When Willis’ investigation became public, senior Trump adviser Jason Miller said it “is simply the Democrats’ latest attempt to score political points by continuing their witch hunt against President Trump, and everybody sees through it.”
During the call with Raffensperger, Trump also appeared to suggest that Byung J. “BJay” Pak, the Trump-appointed U.S. attorney in Atlanta, was a “never-Trumper” — a term often used for conservative critics of Trump. Pak abruptly announced his resignation the day after the call became public. He’s never publicly explained his departure.
“I find it particularly peculiar the way that he left and when he left,” Willis said of Pak. “It’s something that, to do my job correctly, I have to ask questions about. That’s just logical.”
Prior to his call with Raffensperger, Trump tried unsuccessfully to pressure others in Georgia. While election officials were verifying signatures on absentee ballot envelopes in one metro-Atlanta county in December, Trump told a lead investigator in a phone call to “find the fraud,” saying it would make the investigator a national hero. Trump also demanded that Kemp order a special session of the state legislature to overturn Biden’s victory.
Before those calls, Raffensperger said U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, called him to ask whether the secretary of state had the power to reject certain absentee ballots, which Raffensperger interpreted as a suggestion to toss legally cast votes.
Graham has called the idea that he would suggest that legally cast ballots be discarded “ridiculous.”
Willis said she hasn’t determined whether the Graham call violated the law but said, “It is of interest.”
Asked whether she is looking at debunked claims Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani made before Georgia legislative committees casting doubt on the legitimacy of the state’s election, Willis said, “We won’t overreach, but if those things do seem to be part of a plan to influence the election, they’ll become relevant.”