After 18 phone call attempts, Donald Trump finally reached Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Secretary of State. Trump’s phone call was recorded, and someone who had access to the call, released the complete phone call.

Trump has done this before. In December, he called Brian Kemp, Georgia’s Governor, and asked him to reconvene the Georgia legislature and have them change the outcome of the election in Trump’s favor. Kemp turned him down. Trump has told Kemp and Raffensperger that they should resign. Furthermore, senators David Purdue (R-GA) and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), said that Raffensperger should resign.

Trump also called the president of Ukraine, and offered a bribe of $400 million in military aid if Ukraine would investigate Joe Biden and his son Hunter Biden. Trump was impeached because of this phone call.

The Trump-Raffensperger phone call was another attempt by Trump to overturn Georgia’s presidential election which was won by Joe Biden by 11,780 votes. Georgia’s election was counted three times, and the results were the same. Joe Biden beat Donald Trump. Now, Trump wants Raffensperger to find at least 11,781 votes. Raffensperger politely told Trump that he has the wrong data, and he lost the election. Trump threatened Raffensperger and called him a child for not knowing what the correct election results were. Trump’s in Dalton, Georgia tonight for a last ditch rally for Perdue and Loeffler, the two republicans that are being challenged by Jon Ossoff and Rafael Wornack, respectively. The election is tomorrow, but already more than 3 millions Georgians have voted.

In a Washington Post editorial today, Jennifer Rubin wrote that Trump’s phone call was impeachable, illegal, and a coup. Trump may have violated state and federal election laws, and could be prosecuted. The District Attorney for Fulton County, where the phone call took place said that she is going to look into any possible laws that might have been broken. University law professors at the University of Georgia and Georgia State University said that there is a real possibility that laws were broken. Rubin continues in her article with the following.

I have never favored prosecuting Trump for his conduct in office. But pressuring a campaign official to change the vote tally is a federal offense, as former Justice Department inspector general Michael Bromwich tweeted Sunday, citing Title 52 U.S. Section 20511. That law states: “A person, including an election official, who in any election for Federal office … knowingly and willfully deprives, defrauds, or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a State of a fair and impartially conducted election process, by … the procurement, casting, or tabulation of ballots that are known by the person to be materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent under the laws of the State in which the election is held” is subject to imprisonment of up to five years.

Threatening Raffensperger with criminal consequences is also arguably extortion. Title 18 Section 875 of the U.S. Code reads: “Whoever, with intent to extort from any person, firm, association, or corporation, any money or other thing of value, transmits in interstate or foreign commerce any communication containing any threat to injure the property or reputation of the addressee or of another or the reputation of a deceased person or any threat to accuse the addressee or any other person of a crime, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”

Alternatively, the state attorney general of Georgia might investigate and bring applicable charges under state law. That would have one clear advantage: Trump cannot receive a federal pardon for state crimes.

Rubin, J. (2021, January 04). Opinion | It’s impeachable. It’s likely illegal. It’s a coup. Retrieved January 04, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/01/03/its-impeachable-its-likely-illegal-its-coup/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most