A Republican member of the Georgia State Election Board made two stunning admissions to a reporter after approving controversial rules that make selection challenges far easier — and drew public praise from Donald Trump at an Atlanta rally.
Rick Jaffares told Savannah-based reporter Justin Glawe that he had suggested himself for a political appointment in a potential second Trump administration, which he later tried to walk back. But he also revealed that Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, one of the “phony electors” from the state in 2020, tapped him for the election board, the journalist wrote for The Bulwark.
“Burt called and said, ‘I need somebody like you on there that knows what’s going on and you can go up there and be strong, that's what I need,'" Glawe reported. "And I said ‘Okay, I’ll do it.”
Jaffares told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that it was merely a "rumor" that he would join another Trump administration, saying the chatter was intended to "make us look like criminals." But Glawe published a recording of the board member recounting his conversation with former Trump campaign aide Brian Jack discussing his interest in becoming a regional EPA director."
I don’t know how that got started,” Jeffares told the reporter. “I don’t know anybody on the Trump administration. I helped Brian Jack with his campaign, and I told Brian, I said, ‘I’m fixin’ to retire,’ I said, ‘If y’all can’t figure out who y’all want to be the EPA director of the Southeast, I’d like to have it.’ That’s all I said.”
Jeffares told the reporter he believes Trump legitimately lost the 2020 election, but he insisted there were problems and voted last week with two other Republicans, Janice Johnston and Janelle King, to reopen an investigation into Fulton County's handling of ballots, which secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation have already probed and found no evidence that ballots were double counted.
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The GOP board members voted to refer the matter to Republican attorney general Chris Carr, and they also granted local election officials the power to refuse certification of election results they believe to be suspect, whether or not evidence of fraud can be shown.
"So, to sum up: Jeffares is a pro-Trump Republican who believes that election fraud occurred in 2020," Glawe reported. "He got his job on the State Election Board thanks to another pro-Trump Republican, Jones, who also believes in election lies, and who allegedly tried to illegally install Trump as president. Jeffares then went on to solicit an administration job from a Trump campaign contact and to work on the State Election Board to implement election-denier policies in Georgia that benefit Trump."
Jones has not been charged in the election interference case along with Trump and his allies, but the Prosecuting Attorneys’ Council of Georgia announced in April that its executive director was investigating whether the lieutenant governor should face criminal charges for signing a certificate stating the former president had won Georgia and declaring themselves the state’s “duly elected and qualified” electors.
