Georgia official frantically texted Mark Meadows as Trump badgered secretary of state to find votes

[groundloop]

Source: CNN

As Donald Trump badgered Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on an hour-long call to "find" the votes necessary to flip the battleground state to Trump's column after the 2020 election, a Raffensperger aide fired off a plea for help.

"Need to end this call," Jordan Fuchs, then the deputy secretary of state, said in a text message to then-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows. "I don't think this will be productive much longer."

She added: "Let's save the relationship."

The little-noticed text messages, included in a recent court filing, provide a deeper look at the chaos that ensued as the former President pressed Raffensperger to help prove Trump won in Georgia -- a state Trump lost. That call now stands at the center of an investigation into Trump, which is set to advance this week when Atlanta-area prosecutors convene a special grand jury to determine whether any of Trump's actions related to Georgia's election -- or those of his allies -- were criminal.



Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/05/02/politics/georgia-grand-jury-meadows-texts/index.html

[Ford_Prefect]

1. Oops?

[bucolic_frolic]

2. The thing is, Trump needed more than just Georgia,

he seemed to think if he could flip one state that would "prove" his case and momentum would flip other states. He really is a bit off.

[oldsoftie]

3. You should see David Perdue's ridiculous ads against Kemp

He says that the war in UKR, high gas, etc is all because kemp "gave" the election to Biden. Trump lost by 3-4 states not just ONE. But thats all he's got. Kemp is beating him by double digits so far & our primary is a few weeks away.
Even though trump insulted Perdue for months after he lost his Senate seat he still grovels. And he's a very rich man; why bother with that fool? I don't get it

[CurtEastPoint]

13. I get so GD MAD at these ridiculous ads. Perdue is despicable.

[Achilleaze]

18. "Republican grovelers totally suck." - Cancun Cruzer (R)

[llashram]

41. no shame, honor or intergrity

character: flawed to his bones... I despise this individual

[Skittles]

51. JAYSUS

he is on fug ugly mofo

[PatSeg]

6. Yes, he came across as a desperate man

trying to find a "win" wherever he could. He was doing what he does best, creating enough chaos to plant seeds of doubt everywhere.

[mopinko]

14. i think they were working other states.

i've heard brief mention from the committee, i think, that other sos's got calls.

[70sEraVet]

32. I recall that the Governor of Arizona purposely ignored a call from Trump while signing off

the certification of Biden's win!


https://m.

[mopinko]

34. does it get any more in your face?

[yardwork]

17. I think they did believe that!

If they had been able to convince one state to commit treason, others might have followed. It could have happened and could happen in the future, as right-wingers take over boards of elections nationwide.

[BumRushDaShow]

31. NV was possibly another one

since the SOS there is a Republican (Barbara Cegavske) like GA (Raffensperger).

PA, AZ, WI, and MI all had Democrats as SOSs. Flipping GA & NV based on shakedowns of SOSs would be a 22-elector shift, bringing the new tally to "284 - 254".

And as you might recall, AZ (which despite having a Democrat as a SOS, has a Republican Governor - Doug Ducey), then got targeted for and relentlessly pounded by Cyber Ninjas for endless recounts and investigation nonsense to try to flip 11 more. And if that, by some bizarre circumstance, had happened, then the tally would be "273 - 265".

Although close but no dice, it seems that if the idea was to "prove fraud" in those instances, this would get them close enough to "add uncertainty" ( "contested" ) and thus declare all the electors "invalid".

The endgame would be to throw the whole thing to the state legislatures to get at those states that voted for Biden in 2020 (like PA, WI, MI - all having GOP-controlled legislatures), but had voted the other way in 2016.

[Ligyron]

4. Hopefully Trump will be convicted of a felony somewhere, somehow.

Or lose the primary and run third party splitting up the GQP vote for a Harris win.

[Fiendish Thingy]

9. Ummm, Harris isn't going to be the nominee in 2024

Not even if Biden, heaven forbid, dies in office before the convention.

[Tommymac]

19. Your opinion. I beleive that she will run and win, if needed.

And that is my opinion.



#GOTV2022

[niyad]

20. And you know this how, exactly?

[oldsoftie]

45. "Know"? No. Surmise? Yes. And I'd have to agree as of today.

There are a few obvious things that point to it but if I listed them someone would probably alert the post & down that silly road we go.
I also don't believe President Biden will run. He'll be 82. There's no possible way he could say that THIS early though. That would be foolish. But he hinted at being a one term president many times during the primaries.

[cstanleytech]

5. Asking to find the votes can be interpreted simply as a request to review all the votes to make

sure they are counted correctly.
That's why it's unlikely that we will see anyone convicted unless they were foolish enough to demand that the person lie and claim to have suddenly found a few thousand ballots for Trump.

[brooklynite]

7. He didn't ask for a review of all the votes

He asked for a specific number (just enough to win).

[cstanleytech]

25. Its not sentiment is simply a fact that proving criminal intent in a court of law

(which is different than the court of public opinion) will be difficult unless there is some hard evidence as a tape or email with them specifically asking the official to commit fraud.

[ShazzieB]

39. He is on tape asking for a very specific number of votes.

Not "Let's make sure the count is correct." He's on tape saying, "I just want to find 11,780 votes."

A very specific number, the number needed to put him over the top in that state. The criminal intent is implicit.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-trump-idUSKBN2980MG

[cstanleytech]

46. I honestly doubt a judge would agree with you that asking to find votes constitutes a criminal act.

Now asking that they throw out votes for Biden would or asking them specifically to create false ballots is another story but that does not appear to have happened.

[stopdiggin]

48. you're correct

It's hard to stretch this phone call into criminal territory. It shows that Trump was dead serious about contesting (and we would find out later - overturning) the election. But it's doubtful that his 'lobbying efforts' with the GA SS will ever be deemed illegal.

(I'd be delighted to be proven wrong. But I've thought for a long time that it was a reach to be labeling this a 'crime.')

[cstanleytech]

52. "I'd be delighted to be proven wrong. " I am with you there.

[kentuck]

8. But what was his "intent"?

It seems this would be a strong case to prosecute.

[Stuart G]

12. NO TRUER WORDS WERE EVER SPOKEN...REPEAT, ...."His intent was to cheat."....!!!!!!!!

[True Blue American]

22. Thank you!

[cstanleytech]

26. Sure, I agree that was his intent but our opinion cannot be used in a court of law as evidence.

[Grasswire2]

43. and........he threatened the GA official.

I think intent is implicit in his comments.

Along with the instruction that he and the Republicans would "take it from there"

[Captain Zero]

47. But his words can be used.It. Is. On. Tape.

nt

[gab13by13]

15. According to Barbara McQuade

it's a tough case to prove criminal intent. It has to be proven that Trump knew he lost Georgia.

I mean, audits were done, Trump's AG and attorney told him there was no voter fraud so I guess Trump can just say the election was rigged, with no proof, and have a get out of jail card.

I keep saying that this goes back to the Cyber Ninjas, nothing was done by DOJ to stop them from fanning the Big Lie so it spread across the country. 70% of Republicans believe the election was stolen from Trump.

Why didn't DOJ run a parallel investigation with the Fulton County DA?

I wish her luck but she has a long row to hoe.

[cstanleytech]

28. "I wish her luck but she has a long row to hoe." Aye.

Right now I suspect a judge would agree and it could just get thrown out even before it goes to trial.

[Achilleaze]

16. In other words, when the Republican Traitor-in-Chief

attempted to seduce then bully other Republicans into slithering into alignment with his evil, anti-American plot to overthrow the will of the voters, folks freaked.

As they should. Republican treason is vile. Traitors must pay the price for their betrayal of truth, and America.

[moose65]

21. A bit off-topic, but...

Quick question: how does one pronounce the surname "Fuchs"???

[Harker]

30. Fyukes, typically.

Foooks in German.

Fox.

[hamsterjill]

24. So the Deputy Secretary of State

Texted Mark Meadows DURING the phone call between Donald Trump and Raffensperger?

I hope Fuchs never becomes Secretary of State. She was obviously hoping to keep Trump from saying anything incriminating.

[hamsterjill]

33. Yes.

But it sure shows that there was loyalty to Trump WITHIN the Secretary of State’s office. You know, the office tasked with overseeing elections.

I’m glad Raffensperger, at least, did the right thing.

[hamsterjill]

37. I see and understand the intent.

I just don’t see anyone doing anything about it at the present time. We need charges filed. Laws were broken in a million different scenarios.

The fact that these people are walking around free is astonishing to me. Let you or I try to overturn an election and see how feast our butts get thrown in jail.

[Roc2020]

36. There was nothing Trump would not do

to stay in power. That man is evil and dangerous without limit

[ShazzieB]

40. Hmmm...

[stopdiggin]

49. "I don't think this will be productive much longer."

Last edited Mon May 2, 2022, 07:59 PM - Edit history (1)

Clearly means that Raffensperger was getting tired (and probably a might 'tetchy') with the weaseling on the other end of the line. (after all - how much of that moronic 'blather' can one person be expected to endure?) And the following line ..

"Let's save the relationship."

.. more or less fleshes out the story. Tempers were going to start to flare - and people were going to start calling one another names ... 'Nother words - "this won't end well."

Raffensperger wasn't going to do what Donnie wanted - and Donnie, in his typical narcissistic cocoon - just wasn't 'getting' it.

[Marcuse]

50. The Raffensperger call was as incriminating as the Zelenskyy call. One or both are not prosecutable?