Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Trump Campaign Officials Started Pressuring Georgia's Secretary of State Long Before the Election
The Republican secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, rejected repeated demands to endorse Trump. As the official overseeing the voting, he believed he should remain neutral.
Long before Republican senators began publicly denouncing how Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger handled the voting there, he withstood pressure from the campaign of Donald Trump to endorse the president for reelection.
Raffensperger, a Republican, declined an offer in January to serve as an honorary co-chair of the Trump campaign in Georgia, according to emails reviewed by ProPublica. He later rejected GOP requests to support Trump publicly, he and his staff said in interviews. Raffensperger said he believed that, because he was overseeing the election, it would be a conflict of interest for him to take sides. Around the country, most secretaries of state remain officially neutral in elections.
The attacks on his job performance are clear retaliation, Raffensperger said. They thought Georgia was a layup shot Republican win. It is not the job of the secretary of states office to deliver a win it is the sole responsibility of the Georgia Republican Party to get out the vote and get its voters to the polls. That is not the job of the secretary of states office.
Leading the push for Raffenspergers endorsement was Billy Kirkland, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign who was a key manager of its Georgia operations. Kirkland burst uninvited into a meeting in Raffenspergers office in the late spring that was supposed to be about election procedures and demanded that the secretary of state endorse Trump, according to Raffensperger and two of his staffers.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-campaign-officials-started-pressuring-georgias-secretary-of-state-long-before-the-election
Long before Republican senators began publicly denouncing how Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger handled the voting there, he withstood pressure from the campaign of Donald Trump to endorse the president for reelection.
Raffensperger, a Republican, declined an offer in January to serve as an honorary co-chair of the Trump campaign in Georgia, according to emails reviewed by ProPublica. He later rejected GOP requests to support Trump publicly, he and his staff said in interviews. Raffensperger said he believed that, because he was overseeing the election, it would be a conflict of interest for him to take sides. Around the country, most secretaries of state remain officially neutral in elections.
The attacks on his job performance are clear retaliation, Raffensperger said. They thought Georgia was a layup shot Republican win. It is not the job of the secretary of states office to deliver a win it is the sole responsibility of the Georgia Republican Party to get out the vote and get its voters to the polls. That is not the job of the secretary of states office.
Leading the push for Raffenspergers endorsement was Billy Kirkland, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign who was a key manager of its Georgia operations. Kirkland burst uninvited into a meeting in Raffenspergers office in the late spring that was supposed to be about election procedures and demanded that the secretary of state endorse Trump, according to Raffensperger and two of his staffers.
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-campaign-officials-started-pressuring-georgias-secretary-of-state-long-before-the-election
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
2 replies, 1128 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (8)
ReplyReply to this post
2 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Trump Campaign Officials Started Pressuring Georgia's Secretary of State Long Before the Election (Original Post)
demmiblue
Nov 2020
OP
first investigation under new congress is this and with a DOJ ready to pounce,
beachbumbob
Nov 2020
#1
beachbumbob
(9,263 posts)1. first investigation under new congress is this and with a DOJ ready to pounce,
no more playing like we saw the past 2 years. This needs to get real with real consequences or democracy is lost in America
ConstanceCee
(314 posts)2. Two or More
We'll need more than one AG to straighten out this mess.