Unedited transcript of call with Georgia officials makes Trump’s case for voter fraud

January 4, 2021

On the call the President can be heard discussing with Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger the various allegations of voter fraud in the Peach State.

Among the people on the call were Raffensperger, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, several aides and attorneys. At one point Meadows urged Georgia officials, “in the spirit of cooperation and compromise” to find a path forward that doesn’t involve the court system.

During the call, Trump laid out numerous examples of ballot irregularities and anomalies including double voting and deceased people voting.

The Washington Post and other outlets that shared the original story used only snippets of the conversation to report on the conversation. These outlets alleged that his talk with Raffensperger Trump "...repeatedly urged him to alter the outcome of the presidential vote in the state."

January 3, 2021

The complete audio and transcript was released hours after the edited audio went viral and belies the original claim that the President tried to manipulate the outcome of the Georgia election. The full conversation can be heard and read here.

The president has argued with Raffensperger and other Republicans for weeks, blaming them for his narrow election defeat in Georgia. Raffensperger and his office's general counsel, Ryan Germany, pushed back on the claims and said President-elect Joe Biden's victory of more than 12,700 votes was accurate.

January 3, 2021

Originally the Washington Post used one quote to claim that the President wanted Raffensperger to "find 11,780 votes" trying to craft a narrative that the President was trying to alter the election results.

Instead, Trump made his case for how close the election was and possible election interference. "You don't need much of a number because the number that in theory I lost by, the margin would be 11,779. But you also have a substantial numbers of people, thousands and thousands, who went to the voting place on November 3, were told they couldn't vote, were told they couldn't vote because a ballot had been put on their name."

The President continued, "We had, I believe it's about 4,502 voters who voted but who weren't on the voter registration list, so it's 4,502 who voted, but they weren't on the voter registration roll, which they had to be. You had 18,325 vacant address voters. The address was vacant, and they're not allowed to be counted. That's 18,325. Smaller number, you had 904 who only voted where they had just a PO, a post office box number, and they had a post office box number, and that's not allowed."

The President also questioned Raffensperger about ballots that were allegedly "shredded" and others that were counted when there were no poll watchers in Fulton County. Some names of other parties names in the allegations were hidden on the audio and transcript. "We had at least 18,000, that's on tape, we had them counted very painstakingly, 18,000 voters having to do with [name]. She's a vote scammer, a professional vote scammer and hustler [name]. That was the (Fulton County) tape that's been shown all over the world that makes everybody look bad, you, me and everybody else."

January 4, 2021

Trump then expanded on the "water main break" excuse that was used to clear people from the area before the alleged fraud occurred that was circulated widely on a video recording of the polling station. "...number one they said very clearly and it's been reported that they said there was a major water main break. Everybody fled the area. And then they came back, [name] and her daughter and a few people. There were no Republican poll watchers. Actually, there were no Democrat poll watchers, I guess they were them."

The President continued, "But there were no Democrats, either, and there was no law enforcement. Late in the morning, early in the morning, they went to the table with the black robe and the black shield, and they pulled out the votes. Those votes were put there a number of hours before, the table was put there, I think it was, Brad, you would know, it was probably eight hours or seven hours before, and then it was stuffed with votes. They weren't in an official voter box; they were in what looked to be suitcases or trunks, suitcases, but they weren't in voter boxes."

Trump concluded his point, "The minimum number it could be because we watched it, and they watched it certified in slow motion instant replay if you can believe it, but slow motion, and it was magnified many times over, and the minimum it was 18,000 ballots, all for Biden."