House Democrats Ask FBI to Open Criminal Investigation Into Trump Call

House Democrats have asked the FBI to open a criminal investigation into President Donald Trump‘s recent phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. According to CBS News, some lawmakers believe the call could have caught Trump violating federal and state election laws. In audio of the call, Trump could be heard pressuring Raffensperger to find “11,780 votes” so his loss to president-elect Joe Biden in Georgia — by 11,779 votes — could be overturned.

In a letter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, California Congressman Ted Lieu and New York Congresswoman Kathleen Rice urged investigators to not let this pass without legal scrutiny. “The evidence of election fraud by Mr. Trump is now in broad daylight,” they wrote. “The prima facie elements of the above crimes have been met.” Both former prosecutors, Lieu and Rice believe that Trump “engaged in solicitation of, or conspiracy to commit, a number of election crimes,” while on the call. They also cited at least three specific laws — two federal and one state specific — that they believe Trump violated.

While speaking to Raffensperger, Trump said, “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.” He then added, “The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry.” Trump also told Raffensperger, “And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated.” The Georgia vote has been calculated three times, officially, and Biden has been determined to be the winner each time.

Trump has refused to concede the election to Biden, even though the Electoral Collage has certified the results of the vote, making Biden the next President of the United States. Trump believes that mass voter fraud is to blame for his loss, even though his campaign has yet to provide concrete evidence to support the claims. Trump’s lawyers have taken their fight to the courts on multiple occasions, but have not been awarded a win in their hopes of having election results overturned.

Even during the course of his call with Raffensperger, Trump brought up his unsubstantiated claims that there was ballot shredding happening in Fulton County, Georgia. He also mentioned unfounded allegations that election technology supplier Dominion Voting Systems was removing and tampering with voting machinery. Raffensperger pushed back on all this, however, replying to Trump, “Mr. President, the challenge that you have is that the data you have is wrong.”

In response to cries for Trump to face legal recourse for his possible violations, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis called his comments “disturbing,” and added, “As I promised Fulton County voters last year, as district attorney, I will enforce the law without fear or favor. Anyone who commits a felony violation of Georgia law in my jurisdiction will be held accountable. Once the investigation is complete, this matter, like all matters, will be handled by our office based on the facts and the law.”