Georgia DA Terrifies Trump With Extortion Call Investigation

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Over the weekend, outgoing President Donald Trump spent about an hour on the phone with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, who the president tried to pressure into finding some way to change the state’s certified election outcome. Trump said, among other points, that he wanted Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to swing Georgia — which Biden won — to Trump, which, in the real world, would require fraudulently doctoring the election outcome, since there’s no legitimate evidence whatsoever of some cache of missing Trump votes, or something. Amidst furor over the possibly criminal call, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis pledged to “enforce the law without fear or favor.”

Willis said as follows:

‘Like many Americans, I have found the news reports about the President’s telephone call with the Georgia Secretary of State disturbing. It is my understanding from news reports that a member of the State Election Board has requested that the Secretary’s Elections Division investigate the call, after which the Board can refer the case to my office and the state Attorney General. As I promised Fulton County voters last year, as District Attorney, I will enforce the law without fear or favor. Anyone who commits a felony violation of Georgia law in my jurisdiction will be held accountable. Once the investigation is complete, this matter, like all matters, will be handled by our office based on the facts and the law.’

Check out her comments below:

Immediate next steps following that state Election Board member’s request for a state-level investigation aren’t immediately clear. David J. Worley, who’s the only Democrat on that state board, requested the investigation, insisted that the recording of Trump’s conversation with Raffensperger amounted to “probable cause” to believe that Trump violated Georgia law, providing the groundwork for the opening of an investigation. As he added, “It’s a crime to solicit election fraud, and asking the secretary to change the votes is a textbook definition of election fraud.” Trump asked Raffensperger to change the outcome on the basis of lies about the process — the outgoing president claimed, for instance, that in actuality he won Georgia by half a million votes, which simply did not happen.

Congress is slated to meet to confirm the electoral college outcome on Wednesday. Numerous Republican members of Congress have announced their intention to object to the certification of Biden’s win, but their objections won’t succeed thanks to the Democratic majority in the House. Majorities of both chambers would be required to block the certification of any electoral votes.