Georgia's Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his advisers were prepared for President Trump to press him on overturning the state's presidential election results during a Saturday phone call, so they decided to record the conversation, which they eventually leaked after Trump mischaracterized the exchange. But the decision was also inspired by a previous phone call Raffensperger had with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in November, Politico reports.
Raffensperger accused Graham of asking him whether he had the power to toss out all mail ballots in Georgia counties found to have higher rates of non-matching signatures, a claim the senator denied. Either way, the call apparently prompted Raffensperger to remain on high alert if he found himself in similar situations. "Lindsey Graham asked us to throw out legally cast ballots," one of Raffensperger's advisers told Politico. "So yeah, after that call, we decided maybe we should do this."
As it turns out, Graham's attempt to help Trump win the election wound up backfiring on the president down the line. Read more at Politico.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.