How could he do such a thing......

[Deleted]

Trump’s Phone Call Is What Coup Fever Looks Like


The U.S. president goes back to Georgia, looking for some votes to steal. He knows that he’s been beat.


Like the little boy haunted by ghosts in the horror movie “The Sixth Sense,” President Donald Trump sees dead people everywhere. He thinks at least 5,000 of them voted in Georgia during the presidential election and were part of a broader conspiracy that deprived him of a victory in the state.



In an unhinged, extraordinary phone call Saturday with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, and Ryan Germany, Raffensperger’s general counsel, Trump tried to strong-arm them into conceding that President-elect Joe Biden hadn’t really secured 11,799 more votes than he did. And he encouraged them to find ways to invalidate those votes, according to a recording of the conversation obtained by the Washington Post (which broke the story) and Bloomberg News.


“So what are we going to do here folks?” Trump asked during the one-hour call. “I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes.” Trump, who oversees the Justice Department for 16 more days, also threatened both men, warning that they could be charged with a crime if they failed to support his voting fraud fairytales.



The phone call memorialized what corruption and a desire to orchestrate a political coup sound like and, happily, Raffensperger and Germany were unswayed. “The challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong,” Raffensperger told Trump, who continued trying to steamroll him anyway. “What we’re seeing is not at all what you’re describing,” said Germany.


Trump has been at this for decades, so there’s nothing surprising here. He spent years trying to bully, buy off or corrupt regulators, politicians, law enforcement officials and others he encountered as a developer, casino operator, media fixture and politician. He was impeached for trying to convince Ukraine’s president during a phone call to find dirt on Biden that would undermine his presidential candidacy.



But it is surprising how easily Trump continues to corrupt so many around him. Too few in his party are willing to tell the president, as Germany did, that reality doesn’t comport with his lies. Cowed by Trump’s political traction or eager to jump on his gravy train, too few are willing to abandon him publicly so voters’ faith in the electoral process, democracy and the rule of law isn’t permanently undercut.



Instead, we’re treated to some of Trump’s more cartoonish and dangerous enablers getting in on the act. His chief of staff, Mark Meadows, encouraged Georgia’s officials on the call to look at the election results “more fully” and, “in the spirit of cooperation,” to “find a path forward” outside of the court system (which has already roundly rejected Trump’s fraud claims). On Saturday night, Meadows took to Twitter to encourage members of Congress to object to certification of the presidential election Jan. 6. “It’s time to fight back,” he advised.



Last week, Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said he planned to object to certification, citing Pennsylvania’s results specifically. Eleven other sitting and incoming Republican senators, including Ted Cruz, have since said they’ll join Hawley. This is performance art for an audience in the Oval Office and in the senators’ home states. It won’t stop Biden from becoming president, but further embeds Trumpism as an operating principle in the GOP and in the federal government.



Seven Republicans in the House of Representatives have broken with their party and said any effort to reject states’ electors is unconstitutional. A handful in the Senate, including Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski and Pat Toomey, have said much the same. I may be missing a few other like-minded souls, but only a small portion of the 249 Republicans in Congress have spoken up. Imagine how the GOP would have responded if Barack Obama tried to corrupt a secretary of state to overturn election results, and ponder the radio silence enveloping the party now.


www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-01-04/trump-s-phone-call-to-georgia-to-flip-election-is-what-a-coup-looks-like



Top Georgia election official says White House pushed him to take Trump call


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Georgia's Republican top election official said on Monday the White House had pushed him against his better judgment to take a call from President Donald Trump in which he pressured the state to overturn his November presidential election defeat there.


n the call on Saturday, Trump told Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to "find" enough votes to overturn his election loss in the southern state, according to a recording published by U.S. media.



"I never believed it was appropriate to speak to the president but he pushed out, I guess he had his staff push us. They wanted a call," Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger told ABC's "Good Morning America."


www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/top-georgia-election-official-says-white-house-pushed-him-to-take-trump-call/ar-BB1csKA9?li=BBnb7Kz

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Democrats ask FBI Director Wray to open criminal probe into Trump after leaked phone call


A pair of House Democrats are asking FBI Director Christopher Wray to open a criminal probe into President Donald Trump after a leaked phone call showed him pleading with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to overturn his state's election.



"Asmembers of Congress and former prosecutors, we believe Donald Trump engaged in solicitation of, or conspiracy to commit, a number of election crimes," Reps. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Kathleen Rice, D-N.Y., wrote in a letter to Wray on Monday. "We ask you to open an immediate criminal investigation into the president."



During the call, a recording of which was obtained by NBC News, Trump asked Raffensperger "to find" enough votes for him to erase President-elect Joe Biden's margin of victory in the state.



"So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have," Trump said. "Because we won the state."




The phone call, which went on for about an hour, featured Trump repeatedly pushing Raffensperger to alter the vote total while launching a barrage of discredited conspiracy theories at the Republican election official and his staff. The president went as far as suggesting that, should the secretary of state not act in accordance with Trump's wishes, he could be criminally liable.



"The people of Georgia are angry. The people in the country are angry," Trump said in the call. "And there's nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you've recalculated."



Raffensperger and his office's general counsel, Ryan Germany, spent the call swatting down the president's claims — at times telling him his specific allegations of fraud were flat-out wrong.



"Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong," Raffensperger said at one point.



In their letter, Lieu and Rice allege, "The evidence of election fraud by Mr. Trump is now in broad daylight."



"Given the more than ample factual predicate, we are making a criminal referral to you to open an investigation into Mr. Trump," the lawmakers wrote.



The president has spent much of the past two months working to overturn the election results, pressing swing state lawmakers to disregard the vote totals in their states and backing legal challenges that have fallen short — drawing sharp criticism from Democrats and some Republicans.



But the recording of his conversation with Raffensperger has led to a more severe response from Trump's Democratic opponents. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., said Sunday that the president's conduct was "impeachable," while Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said it "merits nothing less than a criminal investigation."



When asked at a House Democratic leadership news conference on Monday whether the House should take any action over the call, Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said he had not read the transcript of the conversation, but, "We're not looking backward, we're looking forward to the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20.” Jeffries emphasized that House Democrats are focused on addressing the coronavirus pandemic and economic crisis in the new Congress.


www.aol.com/news/democrats-ask-fbi-director-wray-152800619.html

I remember his saying during the campaign that he had a very IQ!!! Does he know he just hung himself...........

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Extraordinary warning to Trump by 10 former Pentagon chiefs



WASHINGTON (AP) — In an extraordinary rebuke of President Trump, all 10 living former secretaries of defense are cautioning against any move to involve the military in pursuing claims of election fraud, arguing that it would take the country into “dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.”



The 10 men, both Democrats and Republicans, signed on to an opinion article published Sunday in The Washington Post that implicitly questioned Trump's willingness to follow his Constitutional duty to peacefully relinquish power on Jan. 20. Following the Nov. 3 election and subsequent recounts in some states, as well as unsuccessful court challenges, the outcome is clear, they wrote, while not specifying Trump in the article.



“The time for questioning the results has passed; the time for the formal counting of the electoral college votes, as prescribed in the Constitution and statute, has arrived,” they wrote.



The former Pentagon chiefs warned against use of the military in any effort to change the outcome.



“Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory,” they wrote. “Civilian and military officials who direct or carry out such measures would be accountable, including potentially facing criminal penalties, for the grave consequences of their actions on our republic.”



A number of senior military officers, including Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, have said publicly in recent weeks that the military has no role in determining the outcome of U.S. elections and that their loyalty is to the Constitution, not to an individual leader or a political party.



The 10 former Pentagon leaders also warned in their Post article of the dangers of impeding a full and smooth transition at Defense Department prior to Inauguration Day as part of a transfer to power to President-elect Joe Biden. Biden has complained of efforts by Trump-appointed Pentagon officials to obstruct the transition.



Without mentioning a specific example, the former defense secretaries wrote that transfers of power “often occur at times of international uncertainty about U.S. national security policy and posture,” adding, “They can be a moment when the nation is vulnerable to actions by adversaries seeking to take advantage of the situation.”




Tensions with Iran represent just such a moment. Sunday marked one year since the U.S. killing of Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general; Iran has vowed to avenge the killing, and U.S. officials said in recent days that they are on heightened alert for potential Iranian attack on U.S. forces or interests in the Middle East.



In a further sign of U.S.-Iranian tension, the acting secretary of defense, Christopher Milller, announced Sunday evening that he has changed his mind about sending the Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Nimitz, home from the Middle East and instead will keep the vessel on duty. Just last week, Miller announced that he was sending the Nimitz home, a decision that had been opposed by senior military officers.



In reversing himself, Miller cited “recent threats issued by Iranian leaders against President Trump and other U.S. government officials.” He did not elaborate, and the Pentagon did not respond to questions.



The opinion article in the Post was signed by Dick Cheney, William Perry, Donald Rumsfeld, William Cohen, Robert Gates, Leon Panetta, Chuck Hagel, Ash Carter, James Mattis and Mark Esper. Mattis was Trump's first defense secretary; he resigned in 2018 and was succeeded by Esper, who was fired just days after the Nov. 3 election.



The Post reported that the idea for writing the opinion piece began with a conversation between Cheney and Eric Edelman, a retired ambassador and former senior Pentagon official, about how Trump might seek to use the military in coming days.


www.aol.com/news/extraordinary-warning-trump-10-former-054745779-100342482.html

TIME TO SECURE OUR MILITARY

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Calls mount for criminal probe of Trump call to Georgia official


State and federal officials have called for investigations into whether President Trump violated election laws — or possibly committed other crimes — in his Saturday phone call to Georgia’s secretary of state.



A recording of the one-hour call was released Sunday by the Washington Post. The president is heard pressuring Brad Raffensperger, a Republican, to “find 11,780 votes” that would put him in the lead over President-elect Joe Biden in Georgia, which has already certified its results.



Trump also threatens Raffensperger with the possibility of criminal charges unless he comes up with the votes to overturn the election results.




“You know, that’s a criminal — that’s a criminal offense. And you know, you can’t let that happen,” Trump says on the call. “That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. That’s a big risk.”



Criminal justice experts raised the possibility that the implied threat could constitute extortion.



It was reported that since the Nov. 3 election, the White House had made 18 calls attempting to connect Trump with Raffensperger, but this was the first time the two spoke.



The president offered no direct evidence of voter fraud in Georgia, instead floating conspiracy theories about manipulated voting machines, ballots being scanned multiple times and votes simply being thrown out — all of which were investigated by Georgia law enforcement and the FBI, and found to be untrue.



Trump went beyond trying to prove that he won the state by “hundreds of thousands of votes,” pressuring Raffensperger to simply announce a new vote total showing him beating Biden, saying, “There’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, that you’ve recalculated.”



“Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong,” Raffensperger said.



On Monday, Democratic Reps. Ted Lieu of California and Kathleen Rice of New York sent a letter to FBI Director Chris Wray calling for the bureau to open an investigation.



“As members of Congress and former prosecutors, we believe Donald Trump engaged in solicitation of, or conspiracy to commit, a number of election crimes,” the pair wrote. “We ask you to open an immediate criminal investigation into the president.”



On Sunday, David Worley, the lone Democratic member of Georgia’s state election board, asked Raffensperger to investigate possible civil and criminal violations committed by Trump during the call.



a man wearing a suit and tie: Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. (Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)© Provided by Yahoo! News Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. (Dustin Chambers/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“To say that I am troubled by President Trump’s attempt to manipulate the votes of Georgians would be an understatement,” Worley wrote on Sunday following the audio’s release. “I commend you and [counsel to the secretary of state] Ryan Germany for sticking to the state’s position and the plain facts despite the President’s repeated attempts to pressure you into somehow changing the certified votes. It appears that you did so even in the face of threatened criminal action.”



Worley then stated that an investigation should be undertaken to “determine whether violations of the provisions of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated which prohibit solicitation to commit election fraud have occurred.”



“We now have irrefutable proof of a president pressuring and threatening an official of his own party to get him to rescind a state’s lawful, certified vote count and fabricate another in its place,” said Bob Bauer, a senior adviser to President-elect Joe Biden, in a statement Sunday.



Trump, who will leave office on Jan. 20, could also potentially face impeachment for the second time. In 2019, the House voted to impeach him over a phone call where he attempted to pressure the Ukrainian president into discrediting his eventual opponent, now the president-elect. Trump was acquitted in the Senate.



“I absolutely think it’s an impeachable offense, and if it was up to me, there would be articles on the floor quite quickly,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., told reporters. “He’s attacking our very election.”



“This is clearly an impeachable offense and I believe there is nothing under the law giving Trump immunity from criminal process and indictment for this conduct,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., tweeted on Sunday. Ocasio-Cortez and Omar are both relatively junior representatives aligned with the progressive wing of the party. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, a member of Democratic leadership, seemed cool to the idea when asked about impeachment on Monday. “We’re not looking backward, we’re looking forward,” Jeffries said.



_____



www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/calls-mount-for-criminal-probe-of-trump-call-to-georgia-official/ar-BB1csRh9?li=BBnb7Kz


Getting better and better each day or each minute!!!!!

[BHU]

Raffsenberger did not want to take the call & refused numerous attempts earlier by the W.H. to contact him. Now we know why. Trump has been harrassing this guy for two months only for doing his job. His life & his family's lives have been threatened thanks to Trump's outbursts. Nothing Trump does surprises me, enough is enough & Meadows who was in on the call should have known better.

[Deleted]

I shutter to think what will be going down in the next few days to Jan 20th. He may attempt a coup d'état .

[BHU]

Jan 4, 2021 19:59:43 GMT -5 @turd said:

I shutter to think what will be going down in the next few days to Jan 20th. He may attempt a coup d'état .

That's what he's doing now. Trump & his enablers have planted the seed of voter fraud claiming the election was stolen from him. Now with these claims they have millions of people falling for The Big Lie & are using it as an excuse to cause chaos tomorrow in Congress. It's a disgrace. Jan. 20 can't come soon enough.