But the phone call that Trump will be hung out to dry on is real.
Remember? This is not what was in error.
Remember? This is not what was in error.
Quote:Trump demands Georgia secretary of state 'find' enough votes to hand him win
Trump repeatedly made the request during an hour-long phone call Saturday.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-demands...d=75027350
ByQuinn Scanlan
January 3, 2021 7:52 PM
Recording reveals Trump pressuring Georgia secretary of state to overturn election results
The president is heard telling Brad Raffensperger to recalculate the votes and find 11,780 more.
In an hour-long phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Saturday, President Donald Trump falsely claimed it was "not possible" for him to have lost in The Peach State, and asked the secretary to "find" the exact number of votes he would need -- just one vote over the margin that he trailed President-elect Joe Biden by -- so he could be declared the winner of an election that three separate counts confirmed he lost.
“The people of Georgia are angry. The people of the country are angry, and there's nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you've recalculated,” Trump said on the call. "All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have... Fellas, I need 11,000 votes, give me a break."
Raffensperger, a Republican who supported the president's reelection but has maintained Georgia's election was legitimate and accurate, rebuffed the president's allegations, saying the data the president is citing to claim tens of thousands of illegal votes, "is wrong."
MORE: More than 3 million have voted early in Georgia Senate runoff
Despite the president's persistence, the secretary plainly stated, "We believe that we do have an accurate election."
"No, no, you don't. You don't have -- you don't have -- not even close. You've got -- you're off by hundreds of thousands of votes," Trump claimed in response.
Trump also accused Raffensperger of engaging in criminal acts, baselessly claiming election workers were “shredding ballots” -- an allegation he says is based on his opinion and what he’s heard -- and alleged the secretary was covering it up.
"It's more illegal for you than it is for them because you know what they did and you're not reporting it -- that's the -- you know, that's a criminal, that's a criminal offense. And, you know you can't let that happen. That's -- that's a big risk to you and Ryan (Germany), your lawyer, that's a big risk," Trump said during the call.
But it wasn't just the secretary who earned the ire of the president. Trump hasn't hesitated to publicly attack Gov. Brian Kemp, another Republican who supported Trump's reelection, but on this phone call, he went even further, calling himself a "schmuck" for endorsing his candidacy in the 2018 gubernatorial election.
"You've created the population of Georgia so badly. You -- between you and your governor, who wouldn't -- who was down at 21 -- he was down 21 points, and like a schmuck, I endorsed them and he got elected. But I will tell you, he's a disaster," Trump said on the call.
He went after both Raffensperger and Kemp again at the end of the call, saying, "I think we should come to a resolution of this before the election, otherwise you're gonna have you didn't have people just not voting. They don't want to vote. They hate the state. They hate the governor, and they hate the Secretary of State, I will tell you that right now. And the only people that like you are people that will never vote for you, you know that Brad, right?
ABC News has reached out to Kemp's office for comment, but has not heard back.
ABC News' Briana Stewart, Elizabeth Thomas, Trish Turner and Mariam Khan contributed reporting.
