Transcript: Highlights of Trump's Call With the Georgia Secretary of

Transcript: Highlights of Trump’s Call With the Georgia

Secretary of State

Background



: In a leaked telephone conversation, President Trump pressured

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger of Georgia, a fellow Republican and the state’s

top elections official, on Jan. 2 to overturn the election results in his state, reciting

debunked claims of election fraud.

You can listen to excerpts from the recording, which was obtained by The New York

Times, in



this seven-minute audio clip



, and follow along in the transcript below. You

can find the full transcript and recording



here



Directions:



As you listen, highlight, underline or take notes about what you notice

and wonder about the conversation. Which lines stand out to you? What questions do

you have? If you’re in a classroom context, share at least one thing you noticed and

one thing you wondered with the class or a partner. Then, read



the featured article



_______

Excerpt #1

TRUMP: We have, we have, we have won this election in Georgia based on all of this.

And there’s, there’s nothing wrong with saying that, Brad. You know, I mean, having

the, having a correct — the people of Georgia are angry and these numbers are going to

be repeated on Monday night, along with others that we’re going to have by that time,

which are much more substantial even. And the people of Georgia are angry, the

people of the country are angry. And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you

know, um, that you’ve recalculated. And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you

know, um, that you’ve recalculated because the 2,236 and absentee ballots, I mean,

they’re all exact numbers that were, were done by accounting firms, law firms, etc. And

even if you cut ’em in half, cut ’em in half and cut ’em in half again, it’s more votes

than we need.

RAFFENSPERGER: Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you

have is wrong. We, we talked to the congressmen, and they were surprised. But they —

I guess, there’s a person named Mr. Brainard that came to these meetings and

presented data and he said that there was dead people, I believe it was upward of

5,000. The actual number were two. Two. Two people that were dead that voted. And

so, that’s wrong, that was two.

_______

Excerpt #2

TRUMP: Now, do you think it’s possible that they shredded ballots in Fulton County?

Because that’s what the rumor is. And also that Dominion took out machines. That

Dominion is really moving fast to get rid of their, uh, machinery.

Do you know anything about that? Because that’s illegal, right?

RYAN GERMANY, lawyer for Georgia secretary of state’s office: This is Ryan

Germany. No, Dominion has not moved any machinery out of Fulton County.

TRUMP: But have they moved the inner parts of the machines and replaced them

with other parts?

GERMANY: No.

TRUMP: Are you sure, Ryan?

GERMANY: I’m sure. I’m sure, Mr. President.

_______

Excerpt #3

RAFFENSPERGER: Mr. President, the problem you have with social media, they —

people can say anything.

TRUMP: Oh, this isn’t social media. This is Trump media. It’s not social media. It’s

really not, it’s not social media. I don’t care about social media. I couldn’t care less.

Social media is Big Tech. Big Tech is on your side, you know. I don’t even know why

you have a side, because you should want to have an accurate election. And you’re a

Republican.

RAFFENSPERGER: We believe that we do have an accurate election.

TRUMP: No, no, you don’t. No, no, you don’t. You don’t have, you don’t have. Not

even close. You’re off by hundreds of thousands of votes.

_______

Excerpt #4

TRUMP: ... because, you know what they did and you’re not reporting it. That’s a

criminal — that’s a criminal offense. And you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to

you and to Ryan, your lawyer. And that’s a big risk. But they are shredding ballots, in

my opinion, based on what I’ve heard. And they are removing machinery and they’re

moving it as fast as they can, both of which are criminal finds. And you can’t let it

happen and you are letting it happen. You know, I mean, I’m notifying you that you’re

letting it happen. So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes,

which is one more than we have …

_______

Excerpt #5

TRUMP: So tell me, Brad, what are we going to do? We won the election, and it’s not

fair to take it away from us like this. And it’s going to be very costly in many ways. And

I think you have to say that you’re going to re-examine it, and you can re-examine it,

but re-examine it with people that want to find answers, not people that don’t want to

find answers. For instance, I’m hearing Ryan, and he’s probably, I’m sure a great

lawyer and everything. But he’s making statements about those ballots that he doesn’t

know. But he’s making them with such — he did make them with surety. But now I

think he’s less sure, because the answer is they all went to Biden, and that alone wins

us the election by a lot. You know, so.

RAFFENSPERGER: Mr. President, you have people that submit information, and

we have our people that submit information. And then it comes before the court, and

the court then has to make a determination. We have to stand by our numbers. We

believe our numbers are right.

_______

Excerpt #6

Trump: Well, under law, you’re not allowed to give faulty election results. OK? You’re

not allowed to do that, and that’s what you’ve done. This is a faulty election result. And

honestly, this should go very fast, you should meet tomorrow, because 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. And 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. OK, they hate it. And

they’re going to vote, and you would be respected if, really respected if this thing could

be straightened out before the election. You have a big election coming up on Tuesday.

_______

Excerpt #7

Trump: … I mean, look, that’s, you’d have to be a child to think anything other than

that. Just a child.

MITCHELL: How many ballots, Mr. Secretary, are you saying were processed then?

RAFFENSPERGER: We had G.B.I. thoroughly investigate that.

RYAN GERMANY, chief lawyer, Georgia secretary of state’s office: We had

our — this is Ryan Germany. We had our law enforcement officers talk to everyone

who was, who was there after that event came to light. G.B.I. was with them as well as

F.B.I. agents.

TRUMP: Well, there’s no way they could — then they’re incompetent. They’re either

dishonest or incompetent, OK?

MITCHELL: Well, what did they find?

_______

Excerpt #8

Trump: I would like you to, for the attorneys of, I’d like you to perhaps speak with

Ryan, ideally tomorrow, because I think we should come to a resolution of this before

the election, otherwise you’re going to have, you’re going to have people just not

voting. They don’t want to vote, they hate the state. They hate the governor, and they

hate the secretary of state. I will tell you that right now. And the only people that like

you are people that will never vote for you, you know that brand, right? They like you,

you know, they like you, they can’t believe what they found. They want more people

like you. So look, can you get together tomorrow, and Brad, we just want the truth. It’s

simple.