Part V: Just One Little Felony

 

Part V: Just One Little Felony.

__________ 

“I don’t know, look, Brad. I got to get . . . I have to find 12,000 votes, and I have them times a lot. And therefore, I won the state.” 

President Trump, likely suborning election fraud.

__________  

 

WITH the time for President Trump to save a second term dwindling, desperation overcomes principles. Efforts to commit election fraud become more blatant. At this point, we can listen to evidence ourselves. In a call that Trump places to Georgia election officials, if he doesn’t suborn election fraud – which will be for a judge and jury to decide – he misses by a millimeter. 

All open-minded Americans need to listen to this call – including all who believe the 2020 election was stolen. Or you can read my summary below:

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

 

January 3, 2021: The Washington Post reveals a call made by President Trump, the day before. That recorded call, lasting a little more than an hour, went to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. If you listen, you’ll hear Trump saying he’s not asking for much. Just 11,780 votes, one more than needed to take the state’s 16 electoral votes away from his opponent and put them in his “winning” column. 

The first nineteen minutes consist of Trump rattling off huge numbers of votes, in multiple categories, that he claims were fraudulently cast. Dead people by the thousands voted. People who had moved out of Georgia still voted in Georgia. People who had moved out of Georgia and died came back (from heaven) to cast ballots. Some lady pulled 18,000 votes out of a “suitcase,” hidden under a table. Those votes were counted once … twice … three times. All those 54,000 votes went to … Joe Biden.

 

The Georgia officials on the receiving end – three Republicans – Raffensperger, his deputy, Jordan Fuchs, and a state lawyer, Ryan Germany, listen patiently. Only in the second half of the call do they have a chance to talk sense. 

During the call the president cites “5,000” as the figure for dead people who voted, and that’s at “minimum.” He pulls another number out of thin air, insisting there were “300,000 fake ballots.” 

Next, we have a classic bit of Trumpian proof:

 

Then the other thing they said is in Fulton County and other areas. And this may or may not be true [emphasis added throughout]. . . this just came up this morning, that they are burning their ballots, that they are shredding, shredding ballots and removing equipment. They’re changing the equipment on the Dominion machines and, you know, that’s not legal.

 

Trump insists that “they supposedly shredded I think they said 300 pounds of, 3,000 pounds of ballots. And that just came to us as a report today. And it is a very sad situation.” 

Georgia officials tell him bluntly that the rumor is not true. That is: there were zero pounds of illegally shredded ballots. 

 

Trump hammers away at one of his bugaboos. He insists that Dominion Voting Machines were rigged! Raffensperger says he can’t vouch for other states which used the machines, but notes,

 

I don’t believe that you’re really questioning the Dominion machines. Because we did a hand re-tally, a 100 percent re-tally of all the ballots, and compared them to what the machines said and came up with virtually the same result. Then we did the recount, and we got virtually the same result. So I guess we can probably take that off the table.

 

Trump tries again. He has heard that county officials are getting rid of the machines, or replacing the software parts, to hide their crimes. All he needs is a little help, he tells the three Georgians. 

“What’s the difference between winning the election by two votes and winning it by half a million votes,” he wonders. “I think I probably did win it by half a million.” 

(The difference is: You lost.) 

 

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

Trump and his lawyers, some of whom are on the call, insist that they have video showing “suitcases” full of bogus votes for Biden being rolled out and counted in Fulton County. The Georgia officials tell them they’re wrong.

 

Trump:  For some reason, they put it in three times, each ballot, and I don’t know why. I don’t know why three times. Why not five times, right? Go ahead.

 

Raffensperger: You’re talking about the State Farm [Center] video. And I think it’s extremely unfortunate that Rudy Giuliani or his people, they sliced and diced that video and took it out of context. The next day, we brought in WSB-TV, and we let them show, see the full run of tape, and what you’ll see, the events that transpired are nowhere near what was projected by, you know…

 

Germany identifies himself on the call. The story of the thrice-scanned votes is false. “We had our law enforcement officers talk to everyone who was, who was there after that event came to light. GBI [the Georgia Bureau of Investigation] was with them as well as FBI agents.” 

“Well, there’s no way they could – then they’re incompetent,” Trump responds. “They’re either dishonest or incompetent, okay?” 

In Trump’s warped view, the investigators can’t be right, because he can’t accept the stone cold fact he lost. 

 

Balked at one turn, the president tries another. What about all the people who voted who didn’t live in Georgia? There were at least 4,500, possibly “in the 20s.” Or: 20,000 plus.  

Germany replies, “We’ve been going through each of those [claims] as well…Every one we’ve been through are people that lived in Georgia, moved to a different state, but then moved back to Georgia legitimately.”

 

Trump:  How many people do that? They moved out, and then they said, “Ah, to hell with it, I’ll move back.” You know, it doesn’t sound like a very normal…you mean, they moved out, and what, they missed it so much that they wanted to move back in? It’s crazy.

 

Germany:  They moved back in years ago. This was not like something just before the election. So there’s something about that data [Trump’s] that, it’s just not accurate. 

 

“This is Trump media.”  

Trump circles back to an earlier claim: That in Fulton County, tons of bogus votes had been shredded. “Do you think it’s possible that they shredded ballots in Fulton County? Because that’s what the rumor is. And also that Dominion took out machines. That Dominion is really moving fast to get rid of their, uh, machinery.”

 

Germany replies, “No, Dominion has not moved any machinery out of Fulton County.”

 

Trump: What about, what about the ballots. The shredding of the ballots. Have they been shredding ballots?

 

Germany:  The only investigation that we have into that – they have not been shredding any ballots. There was an issue in Cobb County where they were doing normal office shredding, getting rid of old stuff, and we investigated that. But this stuff from, you know, from you know past elections.

 

Trump:  It doesn’t pass the smell test because we hear they’re shredding thousands and thousands of ballots, and now what they’re saying, “Oh, we’re just cleaning up the office.” You know.

 

Raffensperger:  Mr. President, the problem you have with social media, they –  people can say anything.

 

Trump:  Oh this isn’t social media. This is Trump media. Social media is Big Tech. Big Tech is on your side, you know. I don’t even know why you have a side because you should want to have an accurate election. And you’re a Republican.

 

Raffensperger:  We believe that we do have an accurate election. 

 

Flummoxed in regard to the imaginary shredding, the president tries a new tack. Since a signature check proved votes were tallied accurately in Cobb County, how come Georgia officials didn’t investigate Fulton County? 

“We chose Cobb County,” Mr. Germany explains, “because that was the only county where there’s been any evidence submitted that the signature verification was not properly done.” 

Donald’s frustration begins to show:

 

Trump: We can go through signature verification, and we’ll find hundreds of thousands of signatures, if you let us do it…in Fulton, where they dumped ballots, you will find that you have many that aren’t even signed and you have many that are forgeries.

 

Okay, you know that. You know that. You have no doubt about that. And you will find you will be at 11,779 within minutes because Fulton County is totally corrupt, and so is she [Stacey Abrams] totally corrupt. 

 

“I have to find 12,000 votes.” 

The three Georgia officials have already explained that the machine count of votes, and the hand count of votes, and a second machine count all substantially match. The ballots are still there. They weren’t “shredded.” 

They weren’t basted or broiled. 

They’re still there. 

Finally, the president makes what most listeners on such a call would consider a threat. Bad enough, he tells the Secretary of State, that Stacey Abrams and the Democrats stuffed ballot boxes. Worse:

 

And you are going to find that they are – which is totally illegal – it is more illegal for you than it is for them because, you know, what they did and you’re not reporting it. That’s a criminal, that’s a criminal offense. And you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. And that’s a big risk.

 

Then you get the ask in bluntest terms. Donald Trump wants election officials to “flip the state.”

 

And you can’t let it happen, and you are letting it happen. You know, I mean, I’m notifying you that you’re letting it happen. So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.

 

And flipping the state is a great testament to our country because, you know, this is – it’s a testament that they can admit to a mistake or whatever you want to call it.

 

I don’t know, look, Brad. I got to get . . . I have to find 12,000 votes, and I have them times a lot. And therefore, I won the state. 

 

So what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break. You know, we have that in spades already.  

 

The answer he wants is clear: What the Georgians are expected to do is “find” enough votes for Trump to carry the state. Say whatever else you want about the president’s claims. He’s asking officials to break the law.

 

Raffensperger:  Mr. President, you have people that submit information, and we have our people that submit information. And then it comes before the court, and the court then has to make a determination. We have to stand by our numbers. We believe our numbers are right.

 

Trump:  Why do you say that, though? I don’t know. I mean, sure, we can play this game with the courts, but why do you say that? First of all, they don’t even assign us a judge.

 

(“Play this game with the courts?”)

 

(It’s the rule of law.) 

 

Discussion follows about setting up a meeting to address some of the president’s concerns. He wants more. “I’m just saying, you know, and, you know, under new counts, and under new views, of the election results, we won the election. You know? It’s very simple. We won the election.”  

Kurt Hilbert, a Georgia attorney working for Trump, suggests that lawyers from both sides sit down and look at just four categories, totaling 24,149 votes. Why not “compromise?” Hilbert asks. 

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, also listening in on the call, jumps in. He says it sounds like they have an agreement to meet and discuss the numbers. 

“Is that correct?”

 

“No, that’s not what I said,” Germany replies. “I’m happy to have our lawyers sit down with Kurt and the lawyers on that side and explain to him, hey, here’s, based on what we’ve looked at so far, here’s how we know this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong.” 

The call ends soon after, with the three Georgia Republicans still standing their ground. Trump is left boiling. 

 

Down in Florida, that same day, Roger Stone is speaking to a crowd at a “Stop the Steal” protest. “The evidence is growing, overwhelming, and compelling!” he howls. “By any measure whatsoever, Donald J. Trump won a majority of the legal votes cast.” 

Stone is lying, too. 

 

“It’s time to rip and claw and rake.” 

January 4: On 700 WLW radio. Bill Cunningham, a syndicated host, and huge fan of Donald, issues a call to action to listeners. “I will never surrender and collapse and act as if it’s OK when hundreds of thousands have voted illegally,” he says. 

Glen Beck, another right-wing radio star, tells his audience of more than ten million that, “It is time to rip and claw and rake. It is time to go to war, as the left went to war four years ago.” 

 

January 5: The men and women of MAGA, summoned to D.C. by the president, have begun to gather. Enrique Tarrio, head of the Proud Boys, has predicted that his followers will be there in “record numbers.” 

Trump is tweeting happily. At 5:05 p.m. he posts: “Washington is being inundated with people who don’t want to see an election victory stolen by emboldened Radical Left Democrats. Our Country has had enough, they won’t take it anymore! We hear you (and love you) from the Oval Office.” 

When night falls, pro-Trump crowds are still thumping drums, and giving speeches about the kind of fight they expect on the morrow. Ricky Shiffer is listening angrily. We still don’t know what Shiffer did the next day. 

We do that on August 11, 2022, Shiffer will decide to attack the F.B.I. office in Cincinnati – only to be shot and killed. You could say, like Ashli Babbitt, killed while rioting on January 6, that poor Schiffer died in service to Trump’s lies.

 

Shiffer was ready to kill for Trump.
Trump was ready to steal the election.

  

We did not swear it to an individual or a party. 

At any rate, the ten living former Secretaries of Defense issue stark warning. That such a missive is necessary on January 5, 2021, tells us all we need to know about the menace that is President Trump. Signatories include the first two Defense secretaries he hired. These are men know what he’s like behind closed doors.

 

Gen. James Mattis, Trump's first Secretary of Defense signs the letter.

The bipartisan group writes:

 

As former secretaries of defense, we hold a common view of the solemn obligations of the U.S. armed forces and the Defense Department. Each of us swore an oath to support and defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic. We did not swear it to an individual or a party.

 

American elections and the peaceful transfers of power that result are hallmarks of our democracy…This should be no exception.

 

Our elections have occurred. Recounts and audits have been conducted. Appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts. Governors have certified the results. And the electoral college has voted. 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.

 

As senior Defense Department leaders have noted, “there’s no role for the U.S. military in determining the outcome of a U.S. election.” Efforts to involve the U.S. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous, unlawful and unconstitutional territory.

 

You might have expected even most Trump fans to catch on at this point; but they didn’t, and they still haven’t.