December 23, for instance, President Trump reportedly called one of Georgia’s lead election investigators, urging him to “find the fraud” and claiming that the official would be a “national hero” if he did so.[1] On January 2, President Trump called Raffensperger to push him to somehow “find” enough votes to overturn the state’s results: “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.”[2] President Trump also made a clear and chilling threat to Georgia’s highest election official: Failing to “find” enough votes to overturn the results of the Georgia election would be “a criminal offense” and “a big risk to you.”[3] By this point, it was evident that President Trump would resort to any means necessary to reverse the election outcome.
That is confirmed by his persistent (and increasingly extreme) efforts to transform DOJ into an arm of his assault on state election results. At President Trump’s direction, then-Attorney General William Barr authorized federal prosecutors “to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections.”[4] That prompted sixteen Assistant United States Attorneys in fifteen districts to urge Barr to cease the investigation because there was no evidence of such substantial voting irregularities. DOJ’s own investigation ultimately confirmed as much: Barr announced on December 1 that DOJ had “uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election.”[5] Barr reportedly told President Trump at the time that his claims of election stealing were “bullshit.”[6]
- ↑ Amy Gardner, ‘Find the Fraud’: Trump Pressured a Georgia Elections Investigator in a Separate Call Legal Experts Say Could Amount to Obstruction, Wash. Post (Jan. 9, 2021).
- ↑ Amy Gardner & Paulina Firozi, Here’s the Full Transcript and Audio of the Call Between Trump and Raffensperger, Wash. Post (Jan. 5, 2021).
- ↑ Id.
- ↑ Katie Benner & Michael S. Schmidt, Barr Hands Prosecutors the Authority to Investigate Voter Fraud Claims, N.Y. Times (Nov. 9, 2020); Memorandum from the Attorney General, Post-Voting Election Irregularity Inquiries (Nov. 9, 2020).
- ↑ Michael Balsamo, Disputing Trump, Barr Says No Widespread Election Fraud, Associated PressDec. 1, 2020).
- ↑ Jesse Byrnes, Barr Told Trump that Theories About Stolen Election Were “Bulls---”: Report, The Hill (Jan. 18, 2021).
