Georgia election officials Brad Raffensperger and Gabriel Sterling are in talks to testify at one of the House Jan. 6 committee's public hearings, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Raffensperger and Sterling were thrust into the center of former President Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election, after Trump asked Raffensperger to "find" the votes needed to undo President Biden's win in Georgia.
- Raffensperger, Georgia's Republican secretary of state, and Sterling, the chief operating officer for Raffensperger's office, resisted Trump's entreaties and publicly debunked his claims the election was stolen.
- Raffensperger's talks with the House committee were first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Driving the news: The timing is still being worked out by the respective legal teams, according to a source familiar with the matter. The two would testify together as part of a panel, after being subpoenaed by the committee.
- The committee is planning at least six public hearings, the first of which is slated for Thursday.
- Committee member Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said the hearings will "demonstrate the multi-pronged effort to overturn a presidential election, how one strategy to subvert the election led to another, culminating in a violent attack on our democracy."
The big picture: This would not be the first time the two have testified about Trump's attempts to recruit him to overturn the election.
- Raffensperger spoke to a special grand jury last week as part of the Atlanta district attorney's probe of Trump's election schemes in Georgia.
- Sterling plans to testify to the grand jury as well with other Raffensperger staffers.
- Raffensperger and Sterling also reportedly spoke privately with the Jan. 6 committee late last year.
