A special grand jury in Georgia reportedly overheard a recording of Donald Trump trying to get then-House Speaker David Ralston to call a special session of the legislature to overturn Joe Biden’s narrow 2020 election win in the state.
Ralston, who has since died, reportedly turned down the outgoing president’s request, allegedly telling Mr Trump: “I will do whatever I think is appropriate,” according to jurors who spoke to Mr. Atlanta Journal-Constitutionwho first delivered the message of the call.
A special session was never called, although Republicans in the state staged a plan to serve as unauthorized bogus voters and cast votes in the Electoral College for Donald Trump even though Mr. Biden won the state vote.
Independent contacted Mr. Trump for comment.
Jurors previously focused on Trump’s other calls to government officials in 2020, including the infamous video of the president asking Georgia’s Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes for him to win.
As of February 2021, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is investigating the former president’s attempts to influence the outcome of the state’s 2020 presidential election.
In January this year, a grand jury convened by Ms. Willis concluded its work, leaving the prosecutor in an unprecedented position to decide whether Donald Trump will be the first former president in US history to be prosecuted for a crime.
“You won’t be shocked. This is not nuclear physics,” said Emily Kohrs, chair of the jury New York Times its conclusions. “You won’t be too surprised.”
Key points from Trump’s infamous call to Georgia
“We definitely started with the first phone call, the one with Secretary Raffensperger, that got so much publicity,” Ms. Kohrs added.
In another recorded conversation reported by Washington PostMr. Trump can be heard urging Frances Watson, Georgia’s chief election investigator, to investigate “dishonesty.”
“When the right answer comes up, you will be praised,” he says in the video.
