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THREAD. It's impossible to debunk all of the false claims in the President's call with @GaSecofState Raffensperger. Literally nothing Trump or his lawyers said on this call is based in fact. But I do think it's important to point out several key statements by the President. /1
Trump says "They beat me in the . . . As you know, every single state, we won every state. We won every statehouse in the country." This is a fantastical statement, complete divorced from reality. He lost 16 states by more than 10%, 9 of them by more than 15%. /2
Everyone has focused, appropriately, on Trump saying "I’m notifying you that you’re letting it happen. So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have." There are two notable things about this statement. /3
First, the president's fixation on that very specific number - 11,780. He asks for this specific number. And he clearly knows what it means. How do we know? Trump personally refers to Biden's 11,779 margin, EXACTLY, no fewer than TEN TIMES in the call. /4
But second, notice the use of the phrase "I'm notifying you that you're letting it happen..." referring to what Trump says are "criminal finds." He later says "That’s a criminal...offense. And you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you and...your lawyer." /5
It's hard to infer any other meaning than a threatening one from the use of the "I'm notifying you" and "that's a big risk" language, in connection with what the most powerful man in the country alleges (falsely) are criminal acts. /6
Re: voting machine conspiracies, Trump states "So we could go through, we have not gone through your Dominion. So we can’t give them blessing. I mean, in other states, we think we found tremendous corruption with Dominion machines, but we’ll have to see." /7
First, he's admitting they've got nothing on the machines in GA (and they've counted the ballots THREE TIMES there, once entirely by hand). Second, the Trump campaign declined to recount the Dominion counties in WI, only asking for recounts in 2 counties using diff machines. /8
When @GaSecofState calmly tells Trump that the video he's relying upon is doctored disinformation, and offers to send him a link to the full unedited video so he can watch it himself, Trump responds "I don’t care about the link. I don’t need it." /9
Trump then channels his inner mob boss and just comes right out and says it, "So what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break." You almost expect him to make an offer @GaSecofState can't refuse. /10
Towards the end, seeking to bypass the courts, Trump says going to court is "playing games," and he and his counsel, Cleta Mitchell, seek to bypass the court to get highly sensitive, personal, and protected data on voters that cannot and should not be shared under GA law. /11
This ignores that there have been no fewer than SIX post-election cases filed in GA, with none finding any fraud or issues with the election. Judge Grimberg, appt'd by Trump, stated "This Court has allowed plaintiff the chance to make his case and he has lost on the merits. /12
Finally, I was shocked at how engaged lawyers like Mitchell and Hilbert were in spreading false information and assisting in pressuring a duly-elected state official. It's shocking they even allowed this call to happen, but to be such active participants raises serious Qs. /END
