American Oversight Demands Records of Raffensperger, Kemp Communications with White House and Trump Lawyers
Following news of the president’s alarming call with Georgia’s secretary of state, we’re investigating Trump’s efforts to pressure state officials to overturn election result
American Oversight on Tuesday submitted requests demanding the release of records reflecting communications Georgia state officials had with the White House or Trump lawyers, including emails about the disturbing Jan. 2 phone call between Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and President Donald Trump, in which the president pressured Raffensperger to overturn the election results.
This past weekend, the Washington Post released audio of the president’s call with Raffensperger. During the hourlong conversation, Trump cajoled the secretary of state, and even threatened him with unspecified “criminal” consequences, to “find 11,780 votes” so as to swing Georgia’s electoral votes from Joe Biden to Trump. The call is a new low in the president’s unprecedented attempts to overturn the results of a valid election, and legal experts have said it potentially broke federal and state election laws.
The records requests submitted on Tuesday seek all communications about that call received or sent by the offices of the governor or secretary of state. The requests also seek any emails or text messages between those offices and external individuals associated with President Trump’s efforts to delegitimize election results, including lawyer Cleta Mitchell and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, both of whom were on the call. Trump lawyers Sidney Powell, Rudy Giuliani, and anyone communicating from email addresses associated with the White House or the Trump campaign are also included in the requests.
“We all heard loud and clear just how low Trump is willing to go to cling to power and reverse this already-decided election.” said Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight. “Trump’s Ukraine scheme went far beyond one phone call, and the public needs to know what else the president and his team are doing to pressure Georgia’s leaders.”
In October 2020, a lawsuit by American Oversight prompted Georgia’s secretary of state’s office to release thousands of pages of records related to the management of elections and previous efforts to limit voting access. Last month, American Oversight also sued Muscogee County to compel the immediate release of communications between county elections officials and right-wing groups challenging the voter registration statuses of over 360,000 voters in Georgia. Tuesday’s requests are available here.