Text messages sent from a former Georgia state aide to former President Donald Trump’s Chief of staff Mark Meadows detail how exasperating and appalling Trump’s demands to overturn his loss in the state truly were to those listening to his rantings on a phone call in January 2021.
The call, which took place before the January 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol building, involved Trump, Meadows, and other White House aides on one end, and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (R), his legal counsel, and other aides at the other.
During the conversation between the two sides, Trump, citing unfounded and disproven claims of election fraud, demanded that Raffensperger and other election officials “find” him 11,780 votes — the exact number he needed in order to overturn the win in the state by President Joe Biden. Raffensperger explained to Trump he didn’t have the authority to do so. Trump, meanwhile, made a number of comments during the conversation — including suggesting Raffensperger and his lawyer could face legal repercussions for refusing to help him — that Raffensperger later said felt like threats made toward him by the former president.
According to a recent court filing, some of Raffensperger’s aides, though silent on the call, were busily texting Meadows during the conversation, urging him to discontinue the call and the demands from Trump.
“Need to end this call. I don’t think this will be productive much longer,” wrote Raffensperger aide Jordan Fuchs to Meadows.
Eventually, Meadows did finish the call, after which Fuchs, who was then serving as deputy secretary of state, texted Meadows once more. That final message suggests Fuchs had viewed the call as being especially draining.
“Thank you. Wow,” she wrote to Meadows.
The text message conversation between Fuchs and Meadows may eventually be entered as evidence in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’s investigation into the call. Willis has convened a special grand jury to help her inquiry, to determine if any state laws were broken when Trump and his White House staff tried to get Raffensperger to cooperate with them to overturn the election results.
On Monday, that grand jury was officially seated, with 26 individuals — 23 members of the grand jury itself and three alternates. The grand jury will remain in place for up to one year, starting this week, though the jury’s work won’t officially begin until June, after state primary election races occur later this month.
Although it’s unclear what, if any, charges the special grand jury could eventually recommend to Willis, the investigation appears centered around Trump’s comments during that phone conversation. By telling Raffensperger to “find” him votes — and furthermore, by suggesting the Georgia secretary of state could face repercussions for not doing so — Trump may have violated a Georgia state law that says it’s illegal to coerce state election officials to engage in election fraud.
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today during our fundraiser. We have 6 days to add 379 new monthly donors. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.