New details are emerging about former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the presidential election in Georgia.
The Wall Street Journal released a recording of a December phone call between Trump and the lead investigator in Georgia Secretary of State’s office, Frances Watson.
During the call, Trump claimed that “something bad happened” in the state with regards to the ballots as he urged Watson to investigate his unfounded claims of voter fraud.
“When the right answer comes out, you’ll be praised,” he told Watson.
The newspaper reports that Trump made the call as officials were conducting a forensic audit of roughly 15,000 mail-in ballots in Cobb County.
Trump told Watson, “If you can get to Fulton, you are going to find things that are going to be unbelievable.”
He also claimed that his loss to President Joe Biden in the state “never made sense.”
“And, you know, they dropped ballots. They dropped all these ballots. Stacey Abrams, really, really terrible,” he said in reference to 2018 Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.Â
Trump’s comments reference allegations that large numbers of fraudulent ballots were cast.
Trump insisted that he won the state by “hundreds of thousands of votes.”
Watson responded to Trump, “I can assure you that our team and the [Georgia Bureau of Investigation], that we are only interested in the truth and finding the information that is based on the facts.”
She added, “I know that you are a very busy, very important man, and I am very honored that you called…And quite frankly, I’m shocked that you would take time to do that, but I am very appreciative.”
Biden won the state by roughly 12,000 votes.
However, Trump made unfounded claims that there was widespread fraud in the state that swung the results — despite the Republican elected officials in Georgia disputing his claims.
In January, The Washington Post released audio of a phone call Trump had with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to pressure him to “find” votes to overturn Biden’s win.
“The people of Georgia are angry. The people in the country are angry,” Trump told Raffensperger. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated.”
He continued, “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.”
Finally, he claimed, “You would be respected, really respected if this thing could be straightened out before the election.”
Despite Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the election, Congress voted to certify Biden’s presidential win early on Jan. 7.
Georgia prosecutors are investigating Trump’s “attempts to influence” the state’s election.
