'The voice of desperation': Vice President-elect Kamala Harris slams Trump, AOC leads calls for impeachment and Rep Hank Johnson says POTUS should resign after his leaked phone call asking Georgia's Republican Secretary of State to 'find' votes
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris ripped into President Donald Trump after a leaked phone call captured him pressuring Georgia's Republican secretary of state to 'find' enough votes to overturn her and Joe Biden's victory in the state.
Harris reacted to the leaked recording while speaking at a campaign event for Democratic senate hopefuls Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock in Savannah on Sunday.
'It was certainly the voice of desperation,' Harris said of Trump's plea to Brad Raffensberger. 'And it was a bald, bald-faced, bold abuse of power by the president of the United States.'
Harris' rebuke followed a Washington Post report detailing the unprecedented hour-long call on Saturday, during which Trump berated Raffensperger and Gov Brian Kemp to do anything they could to change the outcome of the Georgia election.
'So look. All I want to do is this – I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state,' Trump told the officials, both of whom are Republicans.
On Sunday the chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, David Shafer, tweeted that the call served as a 'confidential settlement discussion' of two lawsuits Trump had filed against Raffensperger in state and federal court.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined Harris in condemning Trump's efforts to pressure Raffensberger, calling it an impeachable offense.
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris ripped into President Donald Trump on Sunday after a leaked phone call captured him pressuring Georgia's Republican secretary of state to 'find' enough votes to overturn her and Joe Biden's victory
Donald Trump (left) pressured Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger (right) to 'find' enough votes to overturn Joe Biden's win in the Peach State during an extraordinary leaked phone call on Saturday
'The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry,' Trump said on the call. 'And there's nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you've recalculated.'
'Well, Mr President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong,' Raffensperger responded.
In what the Post described as an incoherent conversation full of ramblings by the president, Trump repeated again and again: 'There's no way I lost Georgia.'
'There's no way. We won by hundreds of thousands of votes,' Trump lamented.
The Biden campaign quickly seized on the president's comments, calling it proof of his 'assault on democracy'.
'We now have irrefutable proof of a president pressuring and threatening an official of his own party to get him to rescind a state's lawful, certified vote count and fabricate another in its place,' Biden Senior Advisor Bob Bauer said.
'It captures the whole, disgraceful story about Donald Trump's assault on American democracy.'
In her speech in Savannah on Sunday, Harris accused Trump of trying to undermine Georgia's senate races as well.
'[Trump] called the Senate race in Georgia illegitimate … illegal and invalid … suggesting that the people of Georgia are trying to commit a crime,' she said.
'They filed six lawsuits — not one, not two — six lawsuits trying to challenge your voice in that election. And they failed every time. And the people's voice remains standing.'
'We know, were there not powerful people trying to mess with folks' right to vote, we would be talking about Governor Stacey Abrams,' Harris added, referencing claims that Abrams would have won the gubernatorial election in 2016 if it weren't for voter suppression by then-Secretary of State Kemp.
Harris spoke on behalf of Ossoff and Warnock, who are seeking to unseat Republican incumbents David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in a runoff on Tuesday that will determine which party controls the Senate.
In her speech in Savannah on Sunday, Harris accused Trump of trying to undermine Georgia's senate races as well
Shortly after news of his call broke Trump took to Twitter to repeat his calls of voter fraud in the presidential election.
'Sorry, but the number of votes in the Swing States that we are talking about is VERY LARGE and totally OUTCOME DETERMINATIVE!' he wrote.
'Only the Democrats and some RINO'S would dare dispute this - even though they know it is true!'
'The Swing States did not even come close to following the dictates of their State Legislatures,' he continued in a second tweet. 'These States 'election laws' were made up by local judges & politicians, not by their Legislatures, & are therefore, before even getting to irregularities & fraud, UNCONSTITUTIONAL!'
Throughout the call, Raffensperger rejected Trump's assertions about the election, claiming he was relying on debunked theories – even as the president flattered, begged and threatened with vague consequences.
At one point, Trump said Raffensperger was taking a 'big risk' by not acting to overturn the results.
Raffensperger also asserted in the call that Joe Biden's 12,779-vote victory in Georgia was fair and accurate.
Trump responded by calling Raffensberger a 'child' and saying he was 'either dishonest or incompetent' for believing fraud didn't take place.
The president rattled off a list of different - and unfounded - instances of fraud, including the claim that votes for Biden were counted three times.
'Brad, why did they put the votes in three times? You know, they put 'em in three times,' Trump said.
Raffensperger replied: 'Mr. President, they did not. We did an audit of that and we proved conclusively that they were not scanned three times.'
At another point Trump suggested that Raffensberger and his general counsel Ryan Germany could be subject to criminal liability if they failed to find that thousands of ballots cast in Fulton County had been illegally destroyed - despite no evidence supporting that allegation.
Trump suggested that Raffensberger and his general counsel Ryan Germany (pictured) could be subject to criminal liability if they failed to find that thousands of ballots cast in Fulton County had been illegally destroyed - despite no evidence supporting that allegation
'That's a criminal offense,' Trump said. 'And you can't let that happen. That's a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer.'
Trump grew desperate as he attempted to get Germany to validate the Fulton County theory.
'Do you think it’s possible that they shredded ballots in Fulton County?' Trump asked. 'Cause that's what the rumor is. And also that Dominion took out machines. That Dominion is really moving fast to get rid of their, uh, machinery. Do you know anything about that? Because that's illegal.'
Germany replied: 'No, Dominion has not moved any machinery out of Fulton County.'
Trump pushed back: 'But have they moved the inner parts of the machines and replaced them with other parts?'
'No,' Germany said.
'Are you sure? Ryan?' Trump pleaded again.
'I'm sure. I'm sure, Mr. President,' Germany said.
Trump was joined on the call by several of his most loyal allies, including White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and conservative lawyers Cleta Mitchell and Kurt Hilbert.
Meadows jumped in at one point to bolster Trump's claim that more than 5,000 dead people voted in the presidential election.
'The actual number was two. Two. Two people that were dead that voted,' Raffensperger said of the claim.
'I can promise you there are more than that,' Meadows replied.
The call marked the first time that Mitchell, a prominent GOP attorney, was known to be involved in Trump's efforts to overturn the election results.
Mitchell joined Trump in attacking Raffensberger's handling of the election in a statement to the Post.
She said Raffensperger's office 'has made many statements over the past two months that are simply not correct and everyone involved with the efforts on behalf of the President’s election challenge has said the same thing: show us your records on which you rely to make these statements that our numbers are wrong'.
Toward the end of the call Trump acknowledged that he was failing to convince Raffensperger or Germany that the results were fraudulent, saying: 'I know this phone call is going nowhere.'
After about an hour of back-and-forth, Raffensperger concluded the conversation by saying: 'Thank you, President Trump, for your time.'
Trump was joined on the call by several of his most loyal allies, including White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows (left) and conservative lawyers Cleta Mitchell (center) and Kurt Hilbert (right)
Reports of the call came after Trump tweeted Sunday morning vaguely of the conversation, claiming Raffensperger 'has no clue' about what happened in the election.
'I spoke to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger yesterday about Fulton County and voter fraud in Georgia. He was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the 'ballots under table' scam, ballot destruction, out of state 'voters', dead voters, and more. He has no clue!' Trump posted.
He also tweeted warning Republicans of potential election fraud in Georgia as two Senate runoffs commence to determine control of the upper chamber.
'Republicans in Georgia must be careful of the political corruption in Fulton County, which is rampant. The Governor, @BrianKempGA, and his puppet Lt. Governor, @GeoffDuncanGA, have done less than nothing. They are a disgrace to the great people of Georgia!' he tweeted in reference to the Republican governor.
Raffensberger responded in his own tweet, writing: 'Respectfully, President Trump: What you're saying is not true.'
Reports of the call came after Trump tweeted Sunday morning vaguely of the conversation, claiming Raffensperger 'has no clue' about what happened in the election. Raffensberger tweeted back: 'Respectfully, President Trump: What you're saying is not true'
Representative Ocasio-Cortez told reporters at the Capitol Sunday that Trump's call with Raffensperger is an 'impeachable offense.'
'I absolutely think it's an impeachable offense and if it was up to me, there would be articles on the floor quite quickly,' she said. 'But he, I mean he is trying to – he is attacking our very election.'
She said she has not listened to the full hour, but has heard parts of the call between Trump and the Georgia secretary of State.
Rep Hank Johnson (D - Georgia) went further than Ocasio-Cortez, saying that he would introduce a motion in the House on Monday to censure Trump over the call he said was 'far from perfect' and 'a violation of state and federal law'.
'Tomorrow, I will introduce a resolution of Censure. Trump should resign NOW!' Johnson tweeted.
A House censure does not have any legally binding power but is the highest form of official rebuke the body can serve the president, short of filing articles of impeachment.
Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D - Illinois) on Sunday said that Trump's call is 'more than a pathetic rambling, delusional rant' and 'merits nothing less than a criminal investigation'.
'[Trump's] disgraceful effort to intimidate an elected official into deliberately changing and misrepresenting the legally confirmed vote totals in his state strikes at the heart of our democracy and merits nothing less than a criminal investigation,' Durbin said.
'The President is unhinged and dangerous. Those who encourage and support his conduct, including my Senate colleagues, are putting the orderly and peaceful transition of power in our nation at risk.'
Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (left) called Trump's attempts to pressure Raffensberger 'an impeachable offense' while Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (right) said the call 'merits nothing less than a criminal investigation'
Rep Hank Johnson (D - Georgia) said he would introduce a motion in the House on Monday to censure Trump over the call he said was 'a violation of state and federal law'
Senior Biden Advisor Bob Bauer said the call 'captures the whole, disgraceful story about Donald Trump's assault on American democracy'
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