Trump dialled poll official to reverse Biden’s win: Report

Washington, January 4

US President Donald Trump, in an extraordinary one-hour phone call, told Georgia’s election chief to reverse President-elect Joe Biden’s win and urged him to find enough votes to overturn his defeat in the swing state in the November 3 election, according to a secretly-recorded audio of the conversation posted by a major American media outlet.

The Washington Post reported that during the phone call on Saturday, Trump urged fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, to find enough votes to overturn his defeat, a development that legal scholars described as a flagrant abuse of power and a potential criminal act. “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state,” he said.

Abuse of power

• Trump made a phone call to Georgia’s election chief Brad Raffensperger and urged to find enough votes to overturn his defeat
• Legal scholars describe the President’s act as a flagrant abuse of power and a potential criminal act.

Raffensperger said he was just following the law when he rejected claims by Donald Trump. All I know is that we’re gonna follow the law, follow the process, he said.

Trump lost the election in Georgia by 11,779 votes. According to The Washington Post report, throughout the call, Raffensperger and his office’s general counsel rejected Trump’s assertions, explaining that the President is relying on debunked conspiracy theories and that Biden’s 11,779-vote victory in Georgia was fair and accurate.

Trump has refused to concede to Biden, a Democrat. He has falsely asserted he won the race while publicly pressuring Republican lawmakers to “step up and fight for the Presidency.

The Trump campaign and several of the president’s allies have launched dozens of attempts to challenge the election results in numerous swing states. None of those legal efforts has succeeded in invalidating votes for Biden. — PTI

Unsubstantial poll fraud accusation

So far, Trump has refused to concede to Biden with unsubstantiated allegations of poll fraud. The Trump campaign has launched attempts to challenge the election results in numerous swing states, but to no avail.