'Need to end this call,' Georgia official texted as Trump pressured Raffensperger to 'find' votes

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Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis continues to investigate Republican efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election in Georgia, and we know there’s plenty to investigate. Selection begins Monday for a special grand jury Willis is convening in that investigation.

A recent court filing included urgent texts sent by Jordan Fuchs, then Georgia’s deputy secretary of state, to Mark Meadows, then the White House chief of staff, during the phone call on which Donald Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” the votes needed to flip the state to Trump.

”Need to end this call,” Fuch texted Meadows. “I don’t think this will be productive much longer.” She made the stakes clear when she added, “Let’s save the relationship.” But Trump was not interested in saving the relationship. He was interested in overturning his election loss.

That phone call is at the dead center of Willis’ investigation, but there are lots of other things for her to look into when a special grand jury, which will exist to investigate rather than issue indictments, is convened this week. Willis has said she won’t call witnesses who are currently candidates for office until after the May 24 primary, but she’s not going to wait until November’s general election. This is more urgent than that.

One of the candidates in that primary is David Perdue, the former senator defeated by Sen. Jon Ossoff in the January 2021 runoff election. Perdue is Trump’s chosen vehicle to challenge Gov. Brian Kemp because of Kemp’s refusal to participate in the effort to overturn Trump’s loss. Perdue is all in on Trump’s Big Lie now, and investigations are turning up evidence that he was active in the coup attempt at the time.

Texts Meadows turned over to the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol show Perdue reporting on his efforts to lobby Georgia officials to do Trump’s dirty work.

“Carr won’t be any help with SOS,” Perdue texted Meadows on Dec. 13, 2020, referring to Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr. “I have a call into the Governor’s general counsel now to see if they might help.”

On Dec. 29, Perdue texted Meadows, “I’m trying to set up this call with state legislature leaders and Rudy [Giuliani]. I just want to make sure I’m doing what you and the president want.”

So Perdue has definitely earned a spot in the Georgia investigation, along with many others. In April, Willis told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that at least 50 people had voluntarily testified, while she planned to subpoena at least 30 more, including some of Trump’s inner circle. Raffensperger has told CNN he will cooperate if subpoenaed, and members of his staff have voluntarily testified. Raffensperger, Carr, Kemp, and Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan have all received document preservation requests, but have been informed by Willis that they are likely not targets of the investigation.

As selection for the special grand jury is held Monday, officials are closing roads around the courthouse and dramatically increasing security, while prosecutors have been issued bulletproof vests. These measures come after a string of racist threats.

”I’ll tell your viewers and any other viewers: It does not offend me to call me Black. It just doesn’t. They’re wasting their time,” Willis on CNN in February. “However, they continue to send those very nasty messages. I’ve never been called the N-word so much in my life.” How surprising that the people opposing an investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the election would go to racism in their threats. Nobody could have predicted.

Fani Willis: ‘I am conducting a criminal investigation of former President Donald J. Trump’

Posted in Independent News