“The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry. And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you’ve recalculated," Trump told Brad Raffensperger, according to audio of a phone call released by The Washington Post on Sunday.
The lame-duck has so far refused to concede defeat against the new president-elect despite bipartisan recognition of Biden's victory.
"All I want to do is this," the president said. "I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
Trump further warned Raffensperger of losing support among Republican voters if he refused to obey him.
“You have a big election coming up and because of what you’ve done to the president...you know, the people of Georgia know that this was a scam. Because of what you’ve done to the president, a lot of people aren’t going out to vote, and a lot of Republicans are going to vote negative, because they hate what you did to the president," the president told Raffensperger, before adding that the Republican official would be "respected, really respected, if this can be straightened out before the election.”
As some GOP senators prepare to challenge the election results on Wednesday, a bipartisan group of senators has voiced support for the Electoral College vote.
“At this point, further attempts to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the 2020 Presidential election are contrary to the clearly expressed will of the American people and only serve to undermine Americans’ confidence in the already determined election results,” they said. “The voters have spoken, and Congress must now fulfill its responsibility to certify the election results. .... It is time to move forward.”
The US president has for long called US elections “rigged” particularly if they end in his loss.