Georgia opens investigation into phone call in which Donald Trump wanted to ‘find’ more votes

Brad Raffensberger stressed to Donald Trump that he had lost the election in Georgia

Credit: EPA

Georgia’s secretary of state has opened an investigation into a phone call between Donald Trump and the state’s top elections official in which the former president said he wanted to "find" enough votes to overturn his defeat, an official said.

Walter Jones, a spokesman for Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger who was called by Mr Trump, confirmed the investigation.

"The Secretary of State’s office investigates complaints it receives. The investigations are fact-finding and administrative in nature. Any further legal efforts will be left to the attorney-general," Mr Jones wrote.

Mr Trump had refused to accept his loss to Joe Biden and focused much of his attention on Georgia, a traditionally red state that he narrowly lost.

During the January 2 phone call, which you can hear in the video below, Mr Trump repeatedly argued that Mr Raffensperger could change the certified results, an assertion the secretary of state firmly rejected.

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

The investigation by the secretary of state’s office stems from a complaint by George Washington University Law School professor John Banzhaf III, according to the investigative case sheet.

In an emailed press release sent on Jan 4, Prof Banzhaf said he had filed a complaint with the secretary of state’s office requesting "that this matter be fully investigated, and action be taken to the extent appropriate".

The complaint suggests Mr Trump may have committed one or more violations of Georgia law, including conspiracy to commit election fraud, criminal solicitation to commit election fraud and intentional interference with the performance of election duties, the release says.

Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Mr Trump, said in a statement that there was "nothing improper or untoward about a scheduled call between President Trump, Secretary Raffensperger and lawyers on both sides".

Investigators will present their findings to the state election board, which will then decide how to proceed. If the board believes there is evidence that a crime occurred, it could take action ranging from issuing a letter of reprimand to referring the case to Georgia’s attorney-general.