Georgia election official debunks fraud theories Trump raised on call with Raffensperger
Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling, a Republican, at a press conference on what he called "anti-disinformation Monday," ran through major voter conspiracies pushed by Trump, his allies and far-right media outlets and debunked them one-by-one in an effort to restore faith in Georgia's election system.
"The reason I'm having to stand here today is because there are people in positions of authority and respect who have said their vote didn't count and it's not true," Sterling said, stressing to Georgians that their votes count ahead of critical runoffs in the state which will determine the balance of power in the U.S. Senate.
"It's Whac-A-Mole again. It is Groundhog Day again. I'm going to talk about the things I've talked about repeatedly for two months, but I'm going to do it for one last time," Sterling said, adding he "screamed" at the radio upon hearing audio of the phone call between Trump and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger because theories Trump questioned have already been "thoroughly debunked."
For example, Sterling, responding to those who claim there were roughly 2,500 people who voted without being registered, said, "Let's just be clear about this: you can't do it!" He said, "So that number is zero," going on to debunk other theories.
Asked if he believes, as some have said, that Trump's phone call was an attack on democracy, Sterling said he'd leave others to make that decision before adding he felt it was "out of place."
"I found it to be something that was not normal -- out of place -- and nobody I know who would be president would do something like that to a secretary of state," Sterling said.
Asked about Raffenperger's desire to have the phone call recorded and whether he was concerned about anything improper being said or needing to release it later, Sterling said it was recorded "out of an abundance of caution"
"I think given the environment we're in right now, the political situation that we're in, the history of the president, knowing that he sometimes doesn't necessarily characterize things as they might have actually occurred, it was out of abundance of caution," Sterling said.
"I'm sure the president's side may have recorded it, too. They may have been the ones who leaked part of that, too," he added.