A Republican member of the Georgia State Election Board revealed that he floated himself for a political appointment in a potential second Donald Trump administration, but he's backing away from that claim now.
Rick Jeffares told The Guardian that he proposed himself to former Trump aide Brian Jack as a candidate for regional director of the Environmental Protection Agency, but he told the Atlanta Journal Constitution a day after that report ran that he'd turned down the same job during the ex-president's first term and mentioned to friends that he would consider it now."
“I didn’t talk to anyone in the Trump administration," Jeffares told then newspaper. "It’s been a hardship on us ever since Trump mentioned us at the rally."
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The GOP presidential nominee hailed Jeffares and two other election board members – Janelle King and Janice Johnston – by name last week at an Atlanta rally after they approved new voting rules that could sow chaos and invite election challenges in a state where Trump and his allies have been indicted for their efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.
“How the rumor got started that I would join the administration is beyond me," Jeffares said. "It’s all just to make us look like criminals. I have emails and voicemail messages that would make you blush.”
The Guardian quoted Jeffares, a former state senator appointed to the election board in January, recounting his remarks to Jack, who's currently running for the U.S. House in Georgia.
“I said if y’all can’t figure out who you want to be the EPA director for the southeast, I’d like to have it,” Jeffares was quoted as saying to Jack in the report. “That’s all I said.”
A spokesperson said Jack had met with thousands of activists and elected officials since going to work for Trump's campaign but couldn't recall any conversations with Jeffares.
“But his position has been crystal clear: anyone lobbying for a role in a future administration is only hurting President Trump and themselves, and distracting from the campaign before us,” the spokesperson told the Journal-Constitution.
Democrats and legal experts say the report raises "serious ethical concerns," and AJC said the report would "raise all sorts of red flags" after Jeffares and two other GOP board members voted to reinvestigate Fulton County's handling of the 2020 recount and authorized partisan county election board members to question the outcome of future elections and refuse to certify the results.
“Georgians, it’s more important than ever to get registered and make a plan to vote early,” said Lauren Groh-Wargo, director of the Fair Fight political organization founded by Democrat Stacey Abrams.
A constitutional law scholar and political scientist suggested that Jeffares may have violated state law covering public officials.
"That is a potential unlawful conflict of interest under OCGA §§ 45-1-1 — 45-25-7," said Anthony Michael Kreis, a professor at Georgia State University College of Law.
