A brutal text exchange obtained by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution has revealed just how ugly the fight over Donald Trump’s election lies became in the Peach State.
The texts in question were sent by Tricia Raffensperger, wife of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, to the state’s former senator, Kelly Loeffler.
In the messages, Ms Raffensperger excoriates the Republican senator for buying in to Donald Trump’s election fraud lies as she sought (and ultimately lost) re-election in a runoff that occurred a day before the January 6 attack. She blames the senator for a wave of death threats and other hateful messages that her family withstood in the wake of the refusal of her husband, also a Republican, to aid Donald Trump in his efforts to overturn the election. The messages were sent on 9 November 2020, just days after the presidential election took place
Mr Raffensperger had instead provided a damning recording of a call between him and the president to The Washington Post, which would later go on to spark a criminal investigation into the efforts of Mr Trump’s legal team to influence Georgia’s results.
“Never did I think you were the kind of person to unleash such hate and fury on someone in political office of the same party. My family and I am being personally besieged by people threatening our lives because you didn't have the decency or good manners to come and talk to my husband with any questions you may have had. Instead you have put us in the eye of the storm,”, the secretary of state's wife wrote to Ms Loeffler.
“I hold you personally responsible for anything that happens to any of my family, from my husband, children and grandchildren”, she continued.
Ms Raffensperger went on to tell the soon-to-be-ousted senator that she did not deserve to hold elected office. Ms Loeffler lost her bid to complete a full term and was replaced by Rev Raphael Warnock, who is now seeking election to his first full term this year.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that its reporters did not know the identity of the person who provided the texts to the newspaper but noted that it had independently verified the messages' veracity with some of those participants in further leaked texts provided to the newspaper.
"The copies of the text exchanges were sent to the AJC anonymously, and it’s not immediately clear how the messages were obtained. The AJC’s efforts to identify who sent the text messages were unsuccessful," wrote the paper’s reporters.
Neither Ms Loeffler nor Ms Raffensperger have commented on the messages, and it does not appear that the senator sent a response from the leaked images.
Fulton County’s investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election is just one of the criminal probes looking into that matter.
The Justice Department is pursuing a similar probe before a grand jury in Washington DC and has vowed to follow the facts wherever they lead, seemingly hinting at a willingness to criminally charge members of the Trump White House should evidence of a crime be sufficient.
