Gabriel Sterling, executive director of the voting system of the Office of the Secretary of State in Georgia, speaks on January 4, 2021 during a news conference at the State Capitol in Atlanta, Georgia.
Mike Segar | Reuters
President Donald Trump made a series of “provably false” allegations during his controversial phone call to pressure Georgia’s Secretary of State to stop the election of President-elect Joe Biden there, an election official said Monday.
Georgia’s executive director Gabriel Sterling rebutted point – by – point at a news conference, Trump’s allegations, which came two days after Trump made an unprecedented hour-long phone call to Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger , leaned to ‘find’ the president enough votes to beat Biden.
During the call, which was recorded by officials in Raffensperger’s office, Trump made a series of allegations about alleged irregularities in the presidential election in Georgia, which he said led to Biden winning unfairly.
The president and his allies elsewhere have made similar allegations related to criminals, underage teenagers and dead people allegedly voting.
“The reason I have to stand here today is because there are people in positions of authority and respect who have said they do not count votes, and that is not true,” Sterling said.
“And I’m going to do it again, and I’m going to go through it all, ‘anti-disinformation Monday’.”
Sterling stood next to a chart with the caption “Claim vs. Fact,” with two rows each under the words, saying, “It’s all easy, provably false.”
“Yet the president continues to undermine Georgians’ faith in the electoral system, especially Republican Georgians in this case,” he said.
Sterling also said Trump campaign attorneys “deliberately misled” the public by allegations that a videotape gave fraudulent votes to Biden during a number of votes.
Sterling has suggested that Trump’s allegations could jeopardize the chances of Republican Democrats David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in their run-off election for Georgia’s seats in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday, where they face challenges from Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, respectively. come.
There are concerns among GOP leaders that Trump’s allegations of widespread voter fraud in Georgia, and Perdue and Loeffler’s support of the president’s rhetoric, could dampen the turnout among Republican voters.
Sterling urged voters to turn up at the polls for Tuesday’s races, even though they are concerned about electoral integrity.
“I do not admit that there was massive voter fraud because it was not. But if you believe in your hearts, it was the best thing to do and vote and make it harder for them to steal,” he said. .
Sterling appeared furious as he walked quickly and swiftly through the claims of Trump and his allies.
‘I will admit that after the sound of [Trump’s] a phone call … I wanted to scream, well, I screamed on the computer, and I screamed in my car, to the radio, and talked about it, because it was exposed, ‘Sterling said.
Referring to the map nearby and to Trump’s allegations, Sterling said, “No one changes parts or pieces from Dominion voting machines.”
“It is, it is – I do not even know what it means. It is not a real thing,” Sterling added.
“There is no fragmentation of ballot papers. It is not real.”
Trump’s call to Raffensperger has led to speculation that the president could be prosecuted for trying to influence a government official to change the outcome of an election.
Asked if the Secretary of State, who did not appear at the press conference, is considering asking Georgia’s attorney general or a local district attorney to investigate Trump for the call, Sterling said: “I know that. not.”
“I will let other people decide on this,” Sterling said when asked if the phone call was an attack on democracy. “I personally found that it was something that was not normal, and that no one I know would be president, would do such a thing to a secretary of state.”
‘Trump probably had eight to ten points [during the call]”Each of his figures was incorrect,” Raffensperger said during a controversial Fox News interview later Monday. Our numbers will be supported in court. Their numbers will not be. ‘
Congress will meet Wednesday to confirm Biden’s victory in Electoral College. A planned attempt by a number of IDP senators and members of the House to challenge the results of several warring nations that Biden has won is expected to fail.