Trump May Have Leaned on Georgia Investigator

Legal experts say the call might have violated the law
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 9, 2021 1:30 PM CST
Be a Hero, Trump Told Election Investigator
Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger speaks in a press conference last month in Atlanta.   (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

President Trump told Georgia's lead elections investigator last month that he'd be "a national hero" if he would "find the fraud" in Cobb County's voting results. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said that the call was placed Dec. 23 but that he didn't know the details of the conversation, the Washington Post reports. "That was an ongoing investigation," Raffensperger said. "I don’t believe that an elected official should be involved in that process." The White House did not comment on the phone call. Trump earlier called Republican Gov. Brian Kemp to complain about Georgia's election results being certified. And Raffensperger also received a call from Trump, asking him to "find 11,780 votes" to swing the state's election results to the president.

The investigation was initiated by Raffensperger, in response to accusations that Cobb County officials had accepted mail ballots with signatures that did not match the ones on file. The investigation checked 15,000 signatures, per CNN, and found no fraud. Legal experts told the Post that Trump's call to the investigator could have been against the law—possibly obstruction of justice—but that the case might be difficult to successfully prosecute. Raffensperger and Kemp have angered Trump by standing by their state's presidential election results. At the rally Wednesday just before the pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol, the president attacked the two as "corrupt." (More President Trump stories.)

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