Trump investigation: Officials found recording of Trump call in December in trash on Georgian investigator’s device

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The discovery of the call comes after state officials initially told CNN that they did not believe the audio for the call existed. The call adds to examples of Trump’s extraordinary efforts to assert false allegations of widespread electoral fraud and influence Georgia election officials when certifying state election results.

The audio file of the December 23 appeal between the former president and investigator Frances Watson was discovered as the Georgian Secretary of State’s office responded to a request for public recording. The personal familiar spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity to describe the internal process.

The Washington Post first reported details of how the audio from the December phone call emerged.

Watson declined to comment on CNN through the Georgia Secretary of State’s press secretary.

CNN previously reported that during the December phone call to the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, Trump urged his senior investigator, Watson, to find fraud in the 2020 presidential election, telling him that she would be “congratulated” for overturning the results in favor of President Joe Biden.
Trump pressured Georgian investigator to find 'right answer' in baseless fraud push
Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis sent a series of letters to Georgia state officials in February, including the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, asking them to keep documents relating to the electoral interference. Willis is currently leading a criminal investigation into Trump’s attempts to overturn the 2020 Georgia election results.
The Secretary of State’s office is also separately investigating Trump for his attempts to overturn the state’s election results.

The audio of an hour-long phone call on January 2 in which Trump repeatedly pressured Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the exact number of votes needed to overturn the Biden’s victory surfaced shortly after the call. But the December appeal only became public last week.

Watson told CNN affiliate investigative reporter Mark Winne at WSB-TV that she taped Trump’s December appeal for posterity.

“It’s not every day, it probably won’t happen again in my life,” Watson told WSB.

It’s still unclear why Watson moved the audio of the call to her trash folder, but Watson told Winne that although she was surprised Trump called her, she felt no pressure from her. phone call.

“This is something that is not expected, as I mentioned in the call, you know I was shocked that he took the time to do it,” Watson said.

During the December appeal, Trump had encouraged Watson to seek to uncover “dishonesty” in his signing checks for mail-in ballots in Fulton County, the most populous county in the state and one that is home to most of Atlanta.

“But if you go back two years, and if you can get to Fulton, you’re going to find things that are going to be amazing,” the former president said. “The dishonesty we’ve heard about. But Fulton is the mother lode.”

Later, during the phone call, Trump told Watson he hoped “we” could reach Georgia and that “you have the most important job in the country right now.”

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