Donald Trump personally pressured two Republican officials in Michigan to not certify the 2020 presidential election result in the state, according to a report.
In a 17 November 2020 phone call, the then-president told the officials Monica Palmer and William Hartmann – both members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers – that they would look “terrible” if they certified the results.
According to The Detroit News, which obtained audio of the call, Mr Trump went on to tell the officials: “We’ve got to fight for our country.”
Mr Trump also reportedly told Ms Palmer and Mr Hartmann that his team would “take care” of them, saying that “we can’t let these people take our country away from us”.
RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, a Michigan native, was also on the call and reportedly told the officials: “If you can go home tonight, do not sign it. … We will get you attorneys.”
Mr Trump added: “We’ll take care of that.”
The paper reported that both officials left the canvassers meeting without signing Wayne County’s official statement of votes, and the following day unsuccessfully tried to rescind their votes in favour of certification.
Both officials claimed in legal affidavits that they had been pressured into voting.
Donald Trump is heard saying he would ‘take care’ of the officials— (Getty Images)
Recordings of the conversation were made by someone present for the conversation between Mr Trump, Ms McDaniel, Ms Palmer and Mr Hartmann, The Detroit News reported.
Steven Cheung, a spokesperson for the Trump campaign, told the newspaper that the ex-president’s actions “were taken in furtherance of his duty as president of the United States to faithfully take care of the laws and ensure election integrity, including investigating the rigged and stolen 2020 presidential election”.
“President Trump and the American people have the constitutional right to free and fair elections,” added Mr Cheung.
The newspaper stated that neither Ms Palmer nor Ms McDaniel disputed a summary of the call when contacted for comment.
President Joe Biden beat Mr Trump by 154,000 votes in Michigan, paving the way for him to win the White House.
Now, Mr Trump faces four counts of criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States and its voters over his attempts to stay in power.
The call with Mr Trump, Ms Palmer, Mr Hartmann and Ms McDaniel took place within just half an hour of the end of the meeting of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers on 17 November 2020, The News reported.
The local outlet listened to audio of the meeting captured in four recordings by an individual who was present when the conversation was taking place. That information made its way to The News through a person who listened to the recordings but who wasn’t present for the conversation.
The first recording was timestamped 9.55pm on 17 November 2020, which aligned with phone records obtained by a US House Committee showing Ms Palmer getting calls from Ms McDaniel at 9.53pm and at 10.04pm.
“What I said publicly and repeatedly at the time, as referenced in my letter on Nov. 21, 2020, is that there was ample evidence that warranted an audit,” Ms McDaniel said in a statement to The News despite that a GOP-run state Senate committee found no evidence of widespread fraud, as reported by The News.
Jonathan Kinloch, a Democrat on the Wayne County Board of Canvassers and a Wayne County commissioner, told The News that the call was “insane”.
“It’s just shocking that the president of the United States was at the most minute level trying to stop the election process from happening,” he told the local news outlet.
Mr Trump said on the recordings that the GOP had been “cheated on this election”, adding that “everybody knows Detroit is crooked as hell”.
Mr Trump got 5,200 more votes in Detriot in 2020 than in 2016, and his vote share rose from three to five per cent while Mr Biden won just under 94 per cent of the votes in the city.
Chris Thomas was the elections director in Michigan for over 30 years. The attorney told The News that the canvassers had no legal reason to stop the certification of Mr Biden’s victory.
“Offering something of value to a public official to not perform a required duty may raise legal issues for a person doing so,” he told The News.
