© Provided by Daily MailMailOnline logo
Donald Trump has called Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to pressure him to help overturn Joe Biden's win in the state and to get him to order another signature audit of votes, hours before the president heads to a rally to support David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the Senate runoffs.
The president contacted the Republican governor Saturday morning asking that he call a special session of the state legislature to overturn the election result and appoint electoral college voters that will back him instead of President-elect Biden.
This marks the latest in a long line of attempts from Trump to claw back victory in Georgia after the state flipped blue for the first time in 18 years.
A source told the Washington Post about the conversation in which they said Kemp stood his ground and 'declined the entreaty from Trump'.
Trump took to Twitter around midday - presumably not long after the phone call - to claim he would 'easily and quickly' win Georgia if Kemp permitted a 'simple signature verification' and hitting out at the governor and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger asking 'why are these two 'Republicans' saying no?'
On Thursday, Kemp called for a signature audit of Georgia votes as he said the power to carry one out lies with Raffensperger and claimed it would be 'simple' to do.
Signature verification was already carried out on absentee ballot envelopes in the state before votes were counted and it would now be impossible to trace an individual ballot back to the envelope it came in.
Trump is seeking to have mail-in ballots thrown out across the state as he continues to push unfounded claims of widespread election fraud and refuses to concede to the President-elect.
His latest attack on the election process comes as he heads to Georgia for a rally Saturday night where he has vowed to get behind the two GOP Senate candidates to try to prevent the party losing control of the Senate.
This comes 24 hours after former President Barack Obama headed up a virtual rally in support of the two Democrat challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
© Provided by Daily MailDonald Trump has called Georgia Governor Brian Kemp to pressure him to help overturn Joe Biden's win in the state and to get him to order another signature audit, as the president heads to a rally to support David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler in the Senate runoffs
The source told the Post Trump asked Kemp to call a special to overturn Georgia's election results declaring Biden the winner and appoint electors to the electoral college that would back him instead.
Trump also asked Kemp to order a signature verification audit of mail-in ballots in the state, the source said.
Kemp's spokesperson Cody Hall also confirmed to the Post that the governor and the president had spoken over the phone Saturday morning.
Trump hit out at the governor on Twitter in a sign that the conversation didn't go as planned.
'I will easily & quickly win Georgia if Governor @BrianKempGA or the Secretary of State permit a simple signature verification,' claimed Trump on Twitter Saturday.
'Has not been done and will show large scale discrepancies. Why are these two 'Republicans' saying no? If we win Georgia, everything else falls in place!'
Kemp quickly responded on Twitter, referencing his phone call with the president and saying he had already called for a signature audit to be carried out but does not have the power to enforce it.
'As I told the President this morning, I've publicly called for a signature audit three times (11/20, 11/24, 12/3) to restore confidence in our election process and to ensure that only legal votes are counted in Georgia,' the governor wrote.
Trump is pushing for an audit of mail-in voter signatures in his latest attempts to flip the election result in Georgia, despite no evidence of systemic fraud or irregularities.
© Provided by Daily MailThe president contacted the Republican governor Saturday morning asking that he call a special session of the state legislature in what marks the latest in a long line of efforts from Trump to claw back victory in Georgia which flipped blue for the first time in 18 years
An audit involves comparing the signatures on a sample of absentee ballot envelopes with the signatures on the voter's registration application.
This process was already carried out by election workers when the ballots arrived.
Before a vote is counted, election officials compare the signature on the absentee ballot envelope to the signatures in the voter registration system.
If they don't match, the voter is contacted withim three days or the next day if it's within 11 days of an election and must prove their identity.
On Thursday, a Senate subcommittee hearing heard from Ryan Germany, general counsel for the secretary of state, who described the signature verification process already conducted by the state.
'Counties are required to verify signatures on the absentee ballot applications and absentee ballots, on both the signature on the 'counties are required to verify signtures on absentee ballot apps and absentee ballots on both the signature on eNet and on the absentee ballot application,' Germany said.
But once the signature is verified as a match, the ballot is separated from the envelope to protect voter privacy so it would now be impossible to link an envelope to a ballot if a signature audit was carried out.
'We have a constitutional right in Georgia to a secret ballot. They verify it's you, then they separate your ballot so they don't get to see who you voted for,' Germany said.
Because of the inability to know whether a vote for Biden or Trump should be tossed, Trump may push for all mail-in votes to be thrown out if one signature cannot be verified in an audit.
© Provided by Daily MailTrump took to Twitter Saturday - presumably not long after the phone call - to claim he would 'easily and quickly' win Georgia if Kemp permitted a 'simple signature verification'
© Provided by Daily MailKemp quickly responded on Twitter, referencing his phone call with the president and saying he had already called for a signature audit to be carried out but does not have the power to enforce it
Despite no evidence of widespread fraud in Georgia's election, Republican Governor Kemp has joined Trump's calls for a signature audit.
He told Fox News Thursday he requested an audit on November 20 but that Raffensperger has not ordered one.
'He has not done that. I think it should be done,' Kemp said.
He added: 'Especially with what we saw today, it raises more questions. There needs to be transparency.'
Kemp was referencing the video shown by Rudy Giuliani, Trump's personal lawyer, of an alleged instance of voter fraud at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia.
It shows a group of four people allegedly taking out at least four boxes of ballots from underneath a table and then counting them.
But Raffensperger's office investigated the video and said nothing appeared out of the ordinary.
Gabriel Sterling, the state's voting implementation manager, also debunked the theory.
'The 90 second video of election workers at State Farm arena, purporting to show fraud was watched in its entirety (hours) by @GaSecofState investigators. Shows normal ballot processing. Here is the fact check on it,' he tweeted.
According to the fact check he tweeted: 'Two high-level officials with the Georgia secretary of state's office and a state elections board monitor' each said investigations revealed 'nothing suspicious in the video.'
© Provided by Daily MailTrump tweeted footage of Republicans gathering at the event during the day, telling them: 'See you tonight at 7PM, Georgia!'
Though Trump continues to try to undermine the election result and the entire process in the state in Georgia, he is urging Republicans to get out and vote in the Senate runoffs.
The president is heading to a rally in the state Saturday evening to drum up support for Loeffler and Perdue as the state finds itself the crucial decision-maker over what the Senate looks like for the next four years.
Trump tweeted footage of Republicans gathering at the event during the day, telling them: 'See you tonight at 7PM, Georgia!'
It will mark Trump's first political rally since losing his reelection bid.
The two Georgia Senate seats are still up for grabs after candidates on neither side of the political line managed to secure the 50 percent threshold to secure a seat on November 3.
This means that on January 5, Perdue will go head-to-head with Democrat opponent Ossoff and Loeffler with Warnock.
The outcome will ultimately decide which party takes control of the Senate. If the two Democrats win, the party will hold a 50-50 split meaning Vice President-elect Kamala Harris then has the deciding vote on matters.
If one or both of the Republicans win they will take control, likely making it difficult for the Biden administration to pass policies through the Senate.
In what is shaping up to be a close-run race, Trump is encouraging his fans to throw their support behind the candidates amid concerns many voters won't turn out in January because of conspiracy theories circulating among Trump fans about the GOP candidates.
Several theorists have taken to Twitter and the online platform Parler accusing the two GOP candidates of being anti-Trump and even responsible for widespread election fraud in the state - election fraud that the president has repeatedly claimed occurred while providing no evidence.
Hashtags such as #CrookedPerdue and #CrookedKelly have spread online with some hardline Trump fans branding the duo 'liberal DemoRats,' according to Politico.
© Provided by Daily MailDemocrat Raphael Warnock
© Provided by Daily MailDemocrat opponent Jon Ossoff
The theories have been pushed by people close to Trump's own election fraud team, with attorneys Sidney Powell and Lin Wood both hitting out at Loeffler online.
Powell, Michael Flynn's attorney who has been booted out of Trump's legal team after spouting wild conspiracy theories, pushed an unfounded claim that Loeffler conspired with voting technology company, Dominion Voting Systems, to suppress votes for her GOP opponent in the November 3 race.
Wood, who filed a lawsuit against Georgia's election results, also hit out at both Loeffler and Perdue on Twitter on Wednesday.
'Some leaders in GA & National GOP complain I am hurting chances of @KLoeffler & @sendavidperdue to win runoff & save Senate control,' he wrote.
'They are ones hurting those chances by failing to publicly demand investigation of fraud & special session of legislature. Look in mirror.'
He urged his social media followers to 'threaten to withhold your votes & money' for the runoffs unless the two candidates demand investigations into the election.
The theories and attacks on the two candidates have led several Trump supporters to vow to boycott the run-off despite potentially damaging GOP chances of winning the January races.
This is fuelling concerns among the Republican party that many Trump supporters won't turn out and vote for the two candidates in January, meaning the Democrats could take control of the Senate.
© Provided by Daily Mail Last week Trump urged his supporters to vote to prevent the Senate being lost to 'some very sick people'.
'No, the 2020 Election was a total scam, we won by a lot (and will hopefully turn over the fraudulent result), but we must get out and help David and Kelly, two GREAT people,' he wrote on Twitter last week.
'Otherwise we are playing right into the hands of some very sick people. I will be in Georgia on Saturday!'
Trump will speak at Saturday's rally but the question remains whether he will use the stage to back the two candidates or to push his claims that election fraud cost him the election - claims that could further discourage voters.
The Democrats are also ramping up their campaign for the critical Senate seats, holding a 'Get Out the Vote' virtual rally Friday afternoon where Obama was the star guest.
Obama urged Democrats to go out and vote for Warnock and Ossoff warning that the outcome of the runoffs race will decide 'the course of the Biden presidency'.
'The special election in Georgia is going to determine, ultimately, the course of the Biden presidency and whether Joe Biden and Kamala Harris can deliver legislatively all the commitments they made,' he said.
'If the Senate is controlled by Republicans who are interested in obstruction and gridlock, rather than progress and helping people, they can block just about anything.
'We need a politics that works for ordinary people, not for insiders or the high and mighty.'
Obama said Warnock and Ossoff could help tackle the divide in the state after it flipped blue for the first time since 1992 and hit out at the Republican contenders.
'You've got two incumbent senators, who, in the midst of the worst public health crisis of our lifetimes, were worried about their stock portfolio,' Obama said of Loeffler and Perdue.
'Goodness gracious! That alone should tell you something. Somehow we've become inured to this kind of stuff.'
Read more