The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday released a new recording of then-president Donald Trump pressuring the head of investigations for the Georgia Secretary of State to find evidence to overturn the state’s November election results.
The six minute conversation of a call that took place in December had been previously reported by the Washington Post, but the recording again illustrates Trump’s desire to have state officials use any means possible, implicitly legal and illegal, to overturn election results.
The call to Frances Watson, the chief investigator for the Georgia Secretary of State, is unusual for a number of reasons, the least of which is not the fact that the President of the United States reached out to a person who is supposed to run an independent investigation.
Trump states outright “Something bad happened” to Watson, telling her “When the right answer comes out, you’ll be praised.” Trump made repeated claims that he actually won the election, although state officials certified Democrat Joe Biden won Georgia.
Trump specifically told Watson to investigate Fulton County, a Democratic stronghold and the state’s most populous county. “If you can get to Fulton, you are going to find things that are going to be unbelievable,” he said.
Trump said that the vote count in Fulton County “never made sense and, you know, they dropped ballots. They dropped all these ballots. Stacey Abrams, really, really terrible.” Abrams was the chair of the Democratic Party and succeeded in driving out voters for the election.
A career state government official, not a political appointee, Watson is noticeably uneasy about talking directly with Trump and at numerous times tries to cut off the call. “I do know that you are a very busy, very important man and I am very honored that you called,” she said. “And quite frankly I’m shocked that you would take time to do that, but I am very appreciative.”