Trump defends ‘perfect’ call with Raffensperger amid threat of prison sentences from Georgia probe

Former President Trump defended the controversial call he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger following the 2020 election, saying in a statement on Monday that it was “an absolutely PERFECT phone call.”

The latest defense of the call, which has triggered an investigation in Georgia, follows remarks last week by Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis to The Washington Post that people could face prison sentences as a result of her probe.

Willis also said her team had uncovered credible allegations of serious crimes, although she did not specify who could face a prison term.

In a statement through his Save America PAC, Trump said that Willis “is spending almost all of her waking hours, which aren’t many, on attempting to prosecute a very popular president, Donald J. Trump” and that she “is basing her potential claims on trying to find a tiny word or phrase (that isn’t there) during an absolutely PERFECT phone call, concerning widespread Election Fraud in Georgia.”

He claimed that those on the call “had no problems with the call, and didn’t voice any objections or complaints about anything that I said on the call which could be construed as inappropriate.”

Willis launched a probe last year regarding whether the former president or those close to him were involved in attempting to change the outcome of the 2020 election.

Part of the probe includes a call he made to Raffensperger, asking him to find more than 11,000 votes, which would have overturned President Biden’s victory in the state.

Raffensperger spurned Trump’s entreaties, refusing to go along with the effort to find enough votes to overturn the election.

That drew Trump’s ire, leading the former president to endorse a challenger to Raffensperger in 2021. Raffensperger ultimately prevailed in his Republican primary earlier this year. 

The Georgia prosecutor has subpoenaed a number of people, including former Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and others involved in a scheme to provide an alternative set or electors for Georgia that might have changed the results of the election.