Rep. Kathleen Rice calls for FBI investigation into President Trump's Georgia call

Trump, who has continued to deny that he lost Georgia in the 2020 election to President-elect Joe Biden, 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."

News 12 Staff

Jan 5, 2021, 9:41 AM

Updated 1,345 days ago

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Long Island Rep. Kathleen Rice is calling for the FBI to investigate after President Donald Trump was heard in audio obtained by CNN pressuring the Georgia secretary of state to "find" him votes.
Trump has heard on tape telling Brad Raffensperger that, "You should want to have an accurate election. And you're a Republican," to which the secretary of state responded, "We believe that we do have an accurate election."
The conversation Saturday was the latest step in an unprecedented effort by a sitting president to pressure a state official to reverse the outcome of a free and fair election that he lost. The renewed intervention and the persistent and unfounded claims of fraud by the first president to lose reelection in almost 30 years come nearly two weeks before Trump leaves office.
Trump, who has continued to deny that he lost Georgia in the 2020 election to President-elect Joe Biden, 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." Georgia's certified election results show Biden won the state's Nov. 3 election by 11,779 votes.
One of the reasons Georgia's now repeatedly confirmed results from the presidential election are getting so much attention is because Joe Biden is the first Democratic presidential candidate to win Georgia since Bill Clinton in 1992.
In response, Rice, a Democrat, is calling on the FBI to open an immediate criminal investigation.
"We cannot allow this kind of clearly, unethical at best and at worst, illegal behavior to be condoned, by a person who sits in the most powerful office in the land," says Rice.
Rice and California Rep. Ted Lieu sent a letter to the director of the FBI, saying they believe the president committed a number of election crimes. Rice says she hopes there is a full investigation on the matter, followed by a bipartisan resolution to censure the president on the House floor.
"It would be a perfectly fitting parting gift, with 16 days left in this presidency, that we can wipe the slate clean, put a marker down for all future people who occupy the Oval Office, in this great democracy of ours, to say this kind of behavior is not going to be tolerated," says Rice.
Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin shared a statement on the call with News 12, saying, "that conversation should absolutely have never taken place."
Rice's call comes as the top federal prosecutor in Atlanta left his position Monday, a day after that same audio recording was made public in which Trump called him a “never-Trumper."
Byung J. “BJay” Pak, who was appointed by Trump, announced his resignation as U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Georgia in a news release. The statement did not say why Pak was leaving or what he plans to do next.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.