Donald Trump, another strongman, made an imperfect phone call to the Georgia Secretary of State. This phone call could be essential evidence of crimes against Trump. He was criminally charged by Jack Smith in his 45-page indictment (Donald Trump v. The United States, Case 1:23-cr-00257-TSC). Fulton County Attorney General, Fani Willis is using the phone call in her criminal investigation of election interference. Georgia Republican elites, Trump’s attorneys and advisors, and others may be indicted.

I wrote this post on my blog titled Blog Post 5.3, Trump Threatens Georgia Secretary of State, January 4, 2021. Here is an excerpt from this post:

After eighteen phone call attempts, Donald Trump finally reached Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s secretary of state. Trump’s phone call was recorded211 by Raffensperger, who later released the complete phone call.212 The phone call is full of an absurd collection of Trumpist lies about the election in Georgia.

• Trump told Raffensperger that there are thousands of votes that were not counted.
• Trump claimed that more than 5,000 people who weren’t on the rolls voted.
• He told the secretary of state that there were more than 18,000 vacant address votes—and some of them only had post office box numbers.
• Trump said that Georgia had nearly 5,000 out-of-state voters.
• Trump said there are photographs of ballot drop boxes that were picked up. Trump claims they weren’t delivered for three days.
• Trump said that he thinks that 5,000 dead people voted.

The phone call continued for an hour. Nearly every sentence is a lie or fabrication. Raffensperger corrected the president and said he found only two dead people had voted. Trump said, “When you add it up, there are at least 300,000 fake ballots.” None of the previous assertions by Trump were true. They were all fabricated by Trump and his White House elites.

Hassard, Jack. The Trump Files: An Account of the Trump Administration’s Effect on American Democracy, Human Rights, Science and Public Health (p. 168). Northington-Hearn Publishing LLC. Kindle Edition.

Trump, of course, called his call a perfect phone call. He said the same about his phone call to Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine. That phone call got him impeached. His phone call to Raffensperger won’t result in impeachment. But it could be used as evidence that might lead to convictions at the federal and state levels.

The Phone Call and Federal Charges

Trump participated in a conspiracy against the right to vote and to have one’s vote counted. This is in violation of 18 United States Code (USC) # 241. The phone call with Raffensperger is part of the 45-page indictment.

The Phone Call and State Charges

In Georgia, the phone sparked the criminal investigation by DA Fani Willis into Georgia election interference by Trump and others. A Fulton County Grand Jury is expected to give Willis the go-ahead to indict Mr. Trump. We don’t know the details of Willis’ coming indictment. However we do know that she is investigating Trump’s attempts to overturn the Georgia election results. The investigation will also examine violations of the law. This will include:

• solicitation of election fraud
• the making of false statements to state and local governmental bodies
• conspiracy
• racketeering
• violation of oath of office
• any involvement in violence or threats related to the election’s administration.

District Attorney Fani Willis is “ready to go,” with an indictment of Mr. Trump. She’s targeted July 31 – August 18. She’s simply waiting for the grand jury to makes it decision.

The Vote Will Set Us Free

I’ve spent six years writing on my blog about Mr. Trump. These day-to-day observations and reflections became the foundation for my book The Trump Files. Trump is America’s authoritarian. He’s using the same tactics as previous and contemporary “Strongmen.” This is explored in detail by Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat in her book by the same title.

The Trump Files reveals the wide range of harm brought on American democracy. This includes human rights, science, and public health. Trump has not been held accountable in any of the cases he has been charged. Except one. A jury found him liable for sexual abuse and deformation of E. Jean Carroll. Trump is a dangerous man, and he the leading contender for the Republican nomination for the presidency. He has created a mob of at least 60 million Americans. It increases with each indictment. Hundreds of elites (many in the Congress) support his every move. Even those Republican politicians running against him in the primary refuse to call him out (except for Chris Christie).

We have to be aware that most contemporary strongmen were voted into power. There is only one way to stop Trump. With our vote.