President Donald Trump is not holding back when it comes to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and the 2020 presidential election.
When speaking to reporters on Thursday — his first time taking questions from reporters since Election Day — Trump took aim at Raffensperger, deeming him an “enemy of the people.”
Trump claimed Georgia had a “fraudulent system” — despite Raffensperger recently saying the state had a “wildly successful and smooth election.”
While noting reports that Democrat Stacey Abrams helped register 800,000 voters in Georgia for the election, Trump accused Raffensperger of making a “deal” — a claim made without evidence.
The president said, “You’re not allowed to harvest, but I understand the secretary of state, who is really an enemy of the people, the secretary of state, and whether he’s Republican or not, this man, what he’s done, supposedly he made a deal and you’ll have to check this, where she is allowed to harvest but in other areas they’re not allowed.”
As Business Insider notes, what Abrams did was not ballot harvesting. According to The Washington Post, ballot harvesting is “a practice in which a voter fills out an absentee ballot, seals it in an envelope and does all the required security checks, like signing the back of the envelope so election experts can verify who voted. Then they entrust it to another person, who drops off the ballot at a mail center or ballot drop-off location.”
Watch the video below:
JUST IN: President Trump calls GOP Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger the "enemy of the people" as he makes repeated false claims about the 2020 election. pic.twitter.com/1gjvZ4lMq3
— The Hill (@thehill) November 26, 2020
Trump’s remarks come shortly after Raffensperger penned a USA Today op-ed where he said, “For those wondering, mine lost — my family voted for him, donated to him and are now being thrown under the bus by him.”
During Thursday’s questioning from reporters, Trump also said he “certainly” will leave the White House if the Electoral College backs President-elect Joe Biden, as IJR reported. Trump has refused to concede the election so far, despite all major news outlets projecting Biden as the winner.