Georgia Secretary Of State Says Trump's Election Data Is 'Just Plain Wrong'

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Monday spoke out about the extraordinary phone call he received from President Donald Trump over the weekend pushing him to find votes that would overturn President-elect Joe Biden s win.

In an interview with ABCs Good Morning America, Raffensperger said the data Trump used to peddle his baseless conspiracies of election fraud during the hourlong call was wildly inaccurate.

Trump did most of the talking, Raffensperger told host George Stephanopoulos. We did mostly listening. But I did want to make my points that the data he had is just plain wrong.

For example, Raffensperger said, Trump claimed hundreds and hundreds of ballots were cast on behalf of dead people, but in fact the state found only two instances of such fraud.

Thats an example of just he has bad data, Raffensperger said.

He did most of the talking. We did most of the listening but I did want to make my points The data that he has is just plain wrong. GA Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger to @GStephanopoulos on his phone call with Pres. Trump. https://t.co/tCqsnjNwKF pic.twitter.com/ksOxuGtsDe

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He did most of the talking. We did most of the listening but I did want to make my points The data that he has is just plain wrong. GA Sec. of State Brad Raffensperger to @GStephanopoulos on his phone call with Pres. Trump. https://t.co/tCqsnjNwKF pic.twitter.com/ksOxuGtsDe
Good Morning America (@GMA) January 4, 2021

With less than three weeks until Inauguration Day, Trump hasnt conceded to Biden and continues to falsely claim that Democrats rigged the election against him. The Justice Department and election officials nationwide have rejected the presidents allegations, finding no evidence of widespread voter fraud or ballot-counting irregularities.

Trump has focused much of his ire on Georgia, which he won in 2016 but lost to Biden by fewer than 12,000 votes in November. The president has repeatedly attacked fellow Republicans Raffensperger and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who was an outspoken Trump supporter before the election.

Raffenspergers office announced last week that it had completed an audit of ballot signatures and found no evidence of fraud in the presidential election. Georgia had already conducted a hand recount and a subsequent machine recount at the request of the Trump campaign; both reviews affirmed Bidens win in the state.

In his Saturday call to Raffensperger, a recording of which was first obtained by The Washington Post , Trump pressured the secretary of state to recalculate the final vote tally in Georgia in his favor.

All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, Trump said.

Raffenspergers team reportedly decided to release audio of the call after Trump lied about its substance in a tweet Sunday.

The truth will come out, Raffensperger tweeted in response to Trumps claim that the secretary of state had been unwilling to answer questions about so-called election fraud during their Saturday call.

I never believed it was appropriate to speak to the president, Raffensperger told ABC on Monday. But he pushed out. I guess he had his staff push us. They wanted the call.

David Worley, an attorney and the only Democratic member of Georgias election board, has called on Raffensperger to open an investigation into the call.

Raffensperger said Monday that he believes there would be a potential conflict of interest if he were to open an investigation himself and suggested the Fulton County District Attorneys Office may be a more appropriate authority to conduct such a probe.

The secretary of state wouldnt say whether he felt Trumps call was unlawful, saying only that his office would follow the law and that truth matters.

Despite Trumps relentless push to undermine the election process and subvert democracy, Raffensperger wouldnt say whether hed vote for Trump again.

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I support Republicans, he told Stephanopoulos. I always have. I probably always will.

When pressed, Raffensperger said Trump isnt yet on the ballot for 2024, so hed have to wait and see what would happen.