As former U.S. President Donald Trump would have it, he was merely exercising his free-speech rights when he phoned Georgia¡¯s then Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, in early 2021 and asked him to manufacture more than 11,000 votes so he could claim victory in a presidential race he had just lost.
¡°So what are we going to do here folks?¡± Trump asked during the one-hour call. ¡°I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes.¡± Trump still oversaw the Justice Department at the time and threatened Raffensperger with criminal charges if he failed to support the attempted coup.
¡°What we¡¯re seeing is not at all what you¡¯re describing,¡± one of Raffensperger¡¯s lawyers informed Trump. Trump persisted. Four days later, on Jan. 6, 2021, he delivered a speech that kicked off a violent siege of the U.S. Capitol meant to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
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