On Monday, just as former President Donald Trump began making preparations for the Senate impeachment trial over incitement of insurrection, The New York Timesreported that Trump is facing another investigation, from Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger — for his attempts to interfere with the election process in the state.
Central to the investigation, said the report, was Trump's phone call to Raffensperger, demanding that he "find" 11,000 extra votes and warning that it would be a "big risk" to Raffensperger and his lawyer if they did not do so.
"The January call was one of several attempts Mr. Trump made to try to persuade top Republican officials in the state to uncover instances of voting fraud that might change the outcome, despite the insistence of voting officials that there was no widespread fraud to be found," reported Richard Fausset and Danny Hakim. "He also called Gov. Brian Kemp in early December and pressured him to call a special legislative session to overturn his election loss. Later that month, Mr. Trump called a state investigator and pressed the official to 'find the fraud,' according to those with knowledge of the call."
According to the report, the investigation is currently fact-finding in nature, but could ultimately lead to criminal charges depending on the findings.
"Mr. Biden was the first Democrat to win the presidential election in Georgia since 1992," said the report. "Mr. Trump accused Mr. Kemp and Mr. Raffensperger, both Republicans, of not doing enough to help him overturn the result in the weeks after the election. Mr. Kemp and Mr. Raffensperger had each resisted numerous attacks from Mr. Trump, who called the governor 'hapless' and called on the secretary of state to resign."