Investigators from special counsel’s office to interview Georgia Secretary of State Raffensperger
By Jason Morris and Sara Murray, CNN
(CNN) — Investigators from special counsel Jack Smith’s office are set to interview Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, as part of the federal probe into efforts to subvert the peaceful transition of power.
A spokesperson for the secretary of state’s office confirmed Raffensperger’s interview is set to take place Wednesday in Atlanta. The interview was first reported by The Washington Post.
Then-President Donald Trump called Raffensperger in January 2021, to press him to “find” the votes needed for Trump to win the state of Georgia – a state Joe Biden won by nearly 12,000 votes.
At points during the call, Raffensperger felt that Trump was going so far as to threaten him into going along with Trump’s plan to subvert the election results.
“I felt then – and still believe today – that this was a threat,” Raffensperger wrote in his book, “Integrity Counts,” about one portion of the call. “Others obviously thought so, too, because some of Trump’s more radical followers have responded as if it was their duty to carry out this threat.”
Raffensperger, an elected Republican, pushed back on Trump’s demands. He and his family, as well as other election workers in the state, faced an onslaught of threats as a result.
Trump has maintained he did nothing wrong in his exchange with Raffensperger and has referred to it as an “absolutely perfect phone call.”
The former president and his allies are also under investigation by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, who has been eyeing potential racketeering and conspiracy charges in her probe into efforts to overturn the 2020 election there. Raffensperger testified before a special grand jury as part of that investigation.
Willis is expected to announce in August whether anyone will face charges in the Georgia probe.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2023 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
