Trump Urges Georgia Secretary Of State To ‘Find’ Votes In Recorded Phone Call

President Donald Trump on Saturday pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, to recalculate the state’s tally of presidential election votes to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s win.

In the hour-long phone call, a recording of which was obtained by The Washington Post, Trump pushes baseless conspiracy theories about voter fraud and tells Raffensperger that Georgians are “angry” with the election results.

“We have won this election in Georgia,” Trump falsely claimed during the call. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, Brad. You know, I mean, having the correct ― the people of Georgia are angry. … And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you’ve recalculated.”

Raffensperger can be heard pushing back on Trump’s request, telling the president that the data he used to back up his claims are “wrong.”

“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have,” Trump told Raffensperger at another point in the conversation. “Because we won the state.”

With less than three weeks left until the presidential inauguration, Trump still has not conceded the race to Biden and continues to falsely claim that the election was “rigged” against him. He has focused special attention on Georgia, which he won in 2016 but lost to Biden in November by less than 13,000 votes.

But top Georgia officials ― including Raffensperger and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican who was a vocal supporter of the president leading up the election ― have said the state’s election process was free and fair and that the results are legitimate.

Neither the Justice Department nor election officials nationwide have found any evidence of widespread voter fraud or ballot-counting irregularities. 

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.