Georgia election official says he hates ‘being right’ about Trump’s ability to incite violence with fraud allegations

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Sterling, a Republican who is responsible for implementing voting systems for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, had pleaded with Trump at a press conference on Dec. 1 to “stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence “as Trump debated his electoral fraud conspiracy theories. “Someone is going to be hurt, someone is going to be shot, someone is going to be killed, and that’s not right.”

“Be the bigger man here and stop – come in,” Sterling said at the time. “Tell your supporters, don’t be violent, don’t be intimidated. Anything that’s wrong is anti-American.”

Speaking on Wednesday with CNN’s Erin Burnett on “OutFront,” Sterling said the U.S. Capitol violation that followed his warning weeks later was the “worst case” he had in mind when he made it. these comments.

“When I was talking about this originally, you can see it’s happening, but then you think, there’s no way it’s going to happen. And then it happened,” Sterling said. “I hate to be right. I’m sick of being right.”

“We have to go back to a place where we can have disagreements but where the other side is not going to set you on fire,” he continued. “This is true for Republicans on the far right and Democrats on the far left who believe the other side is essentially bad.”

For weeks, Trump had made a string of unsubstantiated allegations of electoral fraud in Georgia, for which there is no evidence. Republican officials have rejected Trump’s calls to overturn the state’s election results more than a week after certifying Joe Biden as the winner. Biden ultimately won the state with over 12,000 votes.

Sterling had become visibly moved during his December press conference when describing an incident in which a video of a Dominion Voting Machines contractor in Gwinnett County was posted online with allegations of vote manipulation. After the video was released, the man was charged with treason and found a noose outside his house. The man’s family members have received death threats, Sterling said.

But Trump continued to peddle his fraud conspiracy theories, culminating with his Jan. 6 rally speech that preceded the U.S. Capitol Riot, which left five people dead, including a U.S. Capitol Police officer.

It was only after pleading with congressional aides and allies inside the besieged Capitol Hill that day that Trump released a video urging the rioters to ‘go home’, while stoking their baseless grievances. concerning a stolen election.

When asked on Wednesday if he would be willing to be a witness at Trump’s impeachment trial, Sterling said no one had told him about it, so he hadn’t considered it.

“I have a job here in Georgia that I have to do. But of course, if, you know, it happens to this, I don’t know if I have a choice in it.”

CNN’s Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.

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