US lawmakers demand FBI investigation into Trump over Georgia phone call

Two House Democrats on January 4 asked FBI Director Christopher Wray to open a criminal probe into US President Donald Trump over a phone call in which he pressured a Georgia state official to overturn the presidential election in his favour. In the bombshell telephonic conversation, Trump can be heard assailing Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger for refusing to declare the former the winner of the election in the peach state. According to ANI, Congressman Ted Lieu from California and Congresswoman Kathleen Rice from New York, in a letter to Wray, slammed Trump for engaging in "solicitation of, or conspiracy to commit, a number of election crimes".

The letter read, "The President of the United States, in an approximately one-hour long phone call, threatened and berated Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to 'find 11,780 votes' to overturn the President's defeat in the state."

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The recording of that phone conversation has been publicly released, wherein Trump can be heard making a number of other statements soliciting election fraud, such as telling Mr. Raffensperger: 'And there's nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you've recalculated'.

"As Members of Congress and former prosecutors, we believe Donald Trump engaged in the solicitation of, or conspiracy to commit, a number of election crimes. We ask you to open an immediate criminal investigation into the President," the letter added.

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Impeachment ruled out

Meanwhile, Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem Jeffries has signalled that the party would not pursue impeachment. He said that at this point in time, the focus will remain on addressing the public health crisis and the economic crisis. He also added that the chaos, confusion and corruption that Trump has inflicted upon the country is something to be evaluated by the historians. 

With inauguration just days away, media reports published Trump’s call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger in which the outgoing President urged the officials to overturn the results. In the call, which has already led to vice president-elect Kamala Harris bash Trump, the out-voted President can be heard telling the Georgia officials to ‘find’ votes.

At one instance in the conversation, Trump said, "So look. 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.” Trump also went as far as suggesting that should Raffensperger, a Republican, not act in accordance with the President’s wishes, he could be criminally liable.

(With inputs from ANI; Image - AP) 

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