Audio of Trump call with Georgia election investigator offers new details

President Donald Trump urged Georgia’s chief election investigator to find “dishonesty” that could help overturn the state’s election results, framing his work as a matter of national importance, according to audio from ‘a December phone call obtained Monday from the secretary of state’s office.

Officials discovered the recording of the conversation between Trump and Frances Watson, the chief election investigator for Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in a trash file on Watson’s device while responding to a request for public records, according to a source close to the internal process.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report audio.

“You have the most important job in the country right now,” Trump told Watson, who at the time was leading a signature audit of mail-in votes in Cobb County, according to the audio.

“Because if we win Georgia … the Georgian people are so angry with what happened to me, they know I won,” he continued, repeating the false claim that he had won the state.

President Joe Biden won Georgia by 12,670 votes, according to certified Georgian election results.

“When the right answer comes out you will be congratulated,” Trump told Watson at another point in the call, adding, “People will say ‘awesome’ because that’s what it is about, the ability to check and get it right., because everyone knows it’s wrong. “

Earlier reports from NBC News and other news outlets, including the Washington Post, have misquoted the exact words Trump used to urge Watson to seek fraud based on Assistant Secretary of State Jordan Fuchs’ account on Watson’s recollections of the conversation.

“After hearing the tape it is clear that [Watson’s] The recollection accurately described the president’s claims that there was a fraud to be discovered and that she would receive praise for doing so, “Fuchs said Monday in a statement to NBC News.

In a statement Monday, Trump expressed gratitude for the Post’s correction while repeating the false allegations of widespread electoral fraud in Georgia he made in the months following Biden’s victory.

During the conversation, which took place on December 23, Trump said his then chief of staff Mark Meadows asked him to call Watson after Meadows visited Cobb County the day before.

At one point, Trump, referring to the process of matching voters’ signatures on record with the election office to signatures on their ballots, said he hoped Watson was looking at older signatures, rather than simply the most recent. for voters.

“If you go back two years, and if you can get to Fulton, you’re going to find things that are going to be incredible, the dishonesty that we’ve heard about, just good sources, very good sources,” Trump said. before claiming without proof that Fulton County, Democratic stronghold and home of Atlanta, was the “mother lode” of such fraud.

“I appreciate your comments,” Watson replied. She admitted that she was “shocked” that he took the time to call her.

“Whatever you could do, Frances, that would be – that’s a good thing,” Trump told her, according to the audio. “It’s an important thing for the country. So important. You have no idea. So important. And I appreciate it very much.”

Watson said his team were “only interested in the truth” and “finding information based on the facts.” Trump then asked if his team of investigators would continue to work after Christmas to “get things done quickly.”

“Because, you know, we have this date of the 6th, which is a very important date,” he said, apparently referring to the joint session of Congress to formalize the results of the Electoral College. A pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol on Jan.6 in an attempt to disrupt the process of formalizing Biden’s election victory.

Trump also called out Raffensperger and Republican Gov. Brian Kemp as part of his efforts to overturn election results, especially in Georgia, which he became the first GOP candidate in nearly 30 years to lose.

During the appeal with Raffensperger, which took place in early January before the Capitol riot, Trump pleaded with him to “find” enough votes to overturn the results and deliver the state to him.