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The Georgia State Election Commission officially opened an investigation into former President Donald Trump’s phone calls to state election officials asking for help overturning the election results after that President Joe Biden’s narrow victory has been certified twice.
The investigation, which follows a formal complaint filed Monday by a law professor alleging that Trump broke the law in those calls, marks the first formal investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the state’s election results .
Walter Jones, spokesperson for the office of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, confirmed the investigation to ABC News on Monday. “This is an investigation by the state electoral commission,” he said. “We have received a complaint and are handling it the same way as all complaints. Any other legal effort will be left to the Attorney General. “
In Trump’s first call to Georgian officials, made in December in the midst of an ongoing audit, he asked a chief investigator in Raffensperger’s office to “find the fraud”, telling them they would be one ” national hero, “according to a familiar person. with matter. In another call on Jan. 2, Trump repeatedly requested that Raffensperger “find” the exact number of votes – 11,780 – he needed to be the winner in Peach State, according to a recording from the call obtained by ABC News.
Once the investigation is complete, the council will vote on whether or not to send a criminal referral to the state attorney general or district attorney.
Senior Fulton County Attorney District Attorney Fani Willis called the Trump-Raffensperger appeal “disturbing,” saying in a statement after the appeals were first made public that if election officials gave him dismissed the case, she would pursue him aggressively.
“As I promised voters in Fulton County last year, as a district attorney, I will apply the law without fear or favor,” Willis said in a Jan. 4 statement. “Anyone who violates Georgia law in my jurisdiction will be held accountable. Once the investigation is completed, this matter, like all cases, will be dealt with by our office on the basis of the facts and the law.”
She could also decide on her own to pursue an investigation, her associates said.
“I know DA Willis, and she will do it as fast as possible, but she will not move it forward just to please anyone, Democrat or Republican,” said Joshua D. Morrison, former Fulton County senior assistant prosecutor. and colleague of Willis. .
Morrison said he thinks it is likely that Willis will investigate Trump’s calls, although his office has given no official indication that he is preparing to do so.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” Morrison said of the call. “And people in Georgia don’t like to be disturbed. So I don’t think Trump will find a friendly audience here if they decide to go ahead with this matter.”
Investigations by the State Election Commission can take months, but this marks a major development on the eve of Trump’s second impeachment trial. The only article of indictment against the president, who accuses him of inciting the deadly riot on Capitol Hill on January 6, briefly refers to the phone call with the secretary.
Trump’s impeachment lawyers defended Trump’s actions on the appeal in a brief submitted to the House last week and “denied that President Trump acted inappropriately on this phone call.”
Trump also defended his call by speaking at a rally in DC on January 6. “I thought it was a good conversation,” he said. “People loved the conversation.”
“I can’t believe this guy is a Republican,” Trump said, referring to Raffensperger. “He loves to record phone conversations.”
The complaint, which was filed by George Washington University law professor John F. Banzhaf, alleges Trump may have violated three laws in the state of Georgia, including conspiracy to commit fraud election, criminal solicitation to commit electoral fraud and intentional interference with the exercise of electoral functions.
“Many prominent and knowledgeable lawyers have concluded … that the evidence which is currently and publicly available already meets the very high criminal standard of proving every element of crimes beyond a reasonable doubt,” Banzhaf wrote in the complaint. .
Anyone can file a complaint with the elections division of the secretary’s office, Raffensperger’s office told ABC News. If the complaint is found to be credible, it will be investigated.
Banzhaf filed the complaint through an online portal on the secretary’s website, the spokesperson said.
The emailed complaint was sent to the board, Willis, and Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. Banzhaf asked the council to pass a motion to refer a criminal investigation to Carr and Willis’ offices for further prosecution.
The five-member State Election Commission, on which Raffensperger sits, has the power to investigate “electoral laws and fraud and irregularities,” according to a job description on the secretary’s website. If violations of the law are discovered, the council must report them to the relevant attorney general or district attorney, who is then responsible for further investigating the case and prosecuting, if necessary.
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