President Donald Trump called the Georgia Secretary of State nearly 20 times before his now-infamous call during which he threatened Brad Raffensperger, demanded he “find” votes to overturn the election, and likely committed an illegal act.
“Raffensperger received the call from the White House on Saturday at 2:41 PM, after the White House switchboard had made 18 previous attempts to have Trump speak with him in the two months since the general election,” NBC News’ Geoff Bennett says, citing colleague Julia Jester.
“The hour-long conversation was the first time the two spoke directly,” he adds. “Officials in Raffensperger’s office recorded the call, and he made clear to his advisers he did not want it released unless Trump attacked Georgia officials or misrepresented the conversation, per the source.”
Trump wasted no time doing just that.
On Sunday morning Trump posted this tweet attacking the Georgia Republican:
Just 90 minutes later Raffensperger responded: “Respectfully, President Trump: What you’re saying is not true. The truth will come out,” he tweeted.
Someone, presumably tied to Raffensperger, leaked the full audio of the call to The Washington Post, ands later to CNN and The New York Times.