Former President Donald Trump may be focused on his Senate impeachment trial this week, but another legal matter may soon be on his mind in the weeks ahead, as the office of Georgia’s secretary of state has announced it’s opening an inquiry into his conduct around the election results as well.
The former chief executive, in trying to overturn the outcome of several state elections in order to remain in office, made a number of calls to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in early January, seeking to pressure officials to respond to his unfounded complaints. Raffensperger’s office recorded these conversations, perhaps knowing that the secretary of state might have a need for a record of them in order to challenge any contradictory comments from Trump later on.
During the calls, Trump urged Raffensperger to “find” votes for him, alleging without evidence that fraud in the presidential election within the state resulted in his loss to President Joe Biden.
As a result of those conversations, which appear to showcase the former president seeking to influence or coerce a Georgia state official to engage in fraud themselves, Raffensperger’s department announced on Monday that an inquiry would begin.
“The Secretary of State’s office investigates complaints it receives,” Georgia secretary of state spokesman Walter Jones said. “The investigations are fact-finding and administrative in nature. Any further legal efforts will be left to the Attorney General.”
Once the investigation concludes, the State Election Board (which is under the purview of Georgia’s secretary of state) will determine whether a criminal referral should be made to the state attorney general’s office, or to a county district attorney. County district attorneys can also determine on their own whether to proceed with criminal charges.
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, whose county is mentioned by Trump in those phone calls, has said she would pursue a case against Trump if one is referred to her, calling the former president’s words “disturbing.”
“As I promised Fulton County voters last year, as District Attorney, I will enforce the law without fear or favor,” she said. “Anyone who commits a felony violation of Georgia law in my jurisdiction will be held accountable.”
During Trump’s calls to Raffensperger, the former president told the state official to “find the fraud” in the state. There’s no evidence that fraud played any role whatsoever in Trump’s election loss, and many of his claims have been proven untrue by state officials there.
In another call, Trump told Raffensperger to “find” 11,780 votes cast for him — the exact number that would be needed to overturn the result, and make Biden’s win a Trump victory instead.
Failure to appease Trump’s demands, the former president said in the conversations, could land Raffensperger and his lawyer in trouble, declaring that he was committing a “criminal offense” by not investigating the phony claims of fraud.
Many have criticized the calls made by Trump, noting that his words seem to have directly violated state election law. Georgia statutes specifically state that it’s a crime for anyone to solicit, request or command another person to engage in election fraud.
“The president asked, in no uncertain terms, the secretary of state to invent votes, to create votes that were not there,” Georgia State University law professor Anthony Michael Kreis, said to Politico after the revelation about the phone calls was made.
The attempt to get Raffensperger to alter the election results led some in Congress to call for Trump’s immediate removal from office at the time — even prior to a mob of his loyalists attacking the Capitol in early January.
“I absolutely think it’s an impeachable offense and if it was up to me, there would be articles on the floor, quite quickly,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) said of Trump’s conversations with Raffensperger.
Trump, for his own part, has defended the way he spoke to Raffensperger. “I thought it was a great conversation, personally,” he said in his speech on January 6, just prior to his loyalists attacking the Capitol building. “So did a lot of other — people love that conversation because it says what’s going on. These people are crooked.”
The phone calls themselves are likely to be discussed during Trump’s Senate impeachment trial this week, where the former president is being tried for having instigated his supporters to try and overturn the election’s outcome at the vote certification process in the Capitol. Indeed, they are included in the charging document, within the single article of impeachment made against him:
President Trump’s conduct on January 6, 2021, followed his prior efforts to subvert and obstruct the certification of the results of the 2020 Presidential election. Those prior efforts included a phone call on January 2, 2021, during which President Trump urged the secretary of state of Georgia, Brad Raffensperger, to “find” enough votes to overturn the Georgia Presidential election results and threatened Secretary Raffensperger if he failed to do so.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $104,000 in one-time donations and to add 1340 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy