“60 Minutes” from CBS News has learned that the call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Jan. 2 was not President Trump’s first attempt to influence the state’s election results. Sources say “60 Minutes” that last month the president himself called one of the investigators of the secretary of state of Georgia.
One person briefed on the call said Mr. Trump had told the investigator that they would be a “national hero” if they found evidence of fraud. But no evidence was found by the investigator, and days later Mr. Trump would be similarly dismissed by Raffensperger. The White House did not respond to repeated requests for comment from the White House unit from CBS News.
“60 Minutes” airs on CBS on Sunday.
CBS News has obtained audio of the telephone conversation of January 2. According to the audio of the call, the president told Raffensperger, “I just want to do this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, that’s one more than we have. Because we won the state.” The Washington Post first reported on the content of the call and released the audio. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows also took part in the discussion.
“The people in Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry,” Trump said on the audio recording. “And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, you’ve recalculated.”
Raffensperger, a Republican, opposed Mr. Trump’s suggestion, telling him that “the data you have is wrong.” He also repeatedly told Mr. Trump that the election results were accurate and refuted the president’s baseless claims. Trump lost the presidential race in Georgia to President-elect Joe Biden by 11,779 votes. Congress counted the votes of the electoral college and on Thursday confirmed Mr. Biden.