Trump was ‘dismissed as a prank caller 18 times’ before finally getting through for his ‘find 11,780 votes’ chat
Donald Trump got a taste of relevance deprivation when he tried to call into a meeting to demand Georgia find him more votes and one nation said he was not welcome there.
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A planned golfing holiday in Scotland for Donald Trump so he could avoid Joe Biden’s inauguration has been ruled out of bounds by the British nation.
First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon said that with her nation under strict COVID lockdown, she could not see grounds to allow Mr Trump to enter just to play golf.
“Coming to play golf is not what I would consider to be an essential purpose,” Ms Sturgeon said.
Scotland is currently under a countrywide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Rumours of his travels started circulating after the New York Post reported that a Boeing 757 was scheduled to land at Prestwick Airport on January 19.
President-elect Joe Biden is set to have his inauguration ceremony just one day later, where he will be sworn into the White House.
The president had previously used the plane in question, but a source at the airport told the outlet that it was more commonly used by Vice President Mike Pence or First Lady Melania Trump, The Sun said.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump had to try no fewer than 18 times to have his notorious phone call demanding more votes be found for him put through to Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger.
His calls were initially dismissed as pranks by staff.
The call to Mr Raffensperger was made on January 2 ahead of a hearing in the Senate on Wednesday to certify the results of the election.
Speaking to the Washington Post, Mr Raffensperger’s deputy, Jordan Fuchs, recalled how the President’s call was repeatedly directed to interns in the press office because staff believed it to be a prank.
Mr Trump’s chief of staff Mark Meadows reportedly had to intervene and make a number of other calls to Mr Raffensperger’s office before the conversation could go ahead.
In recordings of the hour-long phone call, the outgoing president was heard repeatedly telling Mr Raffensperger to locate another 11,780 votes, one more than the margin by which he lost the state in November’s ballot.
“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,” Mr Trump said in the taped conversation.
“There’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, that you’ve recalculated.”
Mr Raffensperger is heard repeatedly rebutting Trump’s claims about the methods of voter fraud supposedly used in Georgia and telling him the count had been “accurate”.
Raffensperger reportedly released the audio of the phone call after Trump disclosed that it had taken place and began attacking him on Twitter the following day.
NEW CONGRESSWOMAN ‘CARRIES Glock IN DC’ TO DEFEND HERSELF
Newly-elected Republican Representative Lauren Boebert released an ad explaining she plans on carrying a concealed gun when she arrives in Washington DC.
“Let me tell you why I WILL carry my Glock to Congress,” started the tweet from Ms Boebert, a representative from Colorado. “Government does NOT get to tell me or my constituents how we are allowed to keep our families safe. I promise to always stand strong for our 2nd Amendment rights.”
In the bizarre video, Boebert is seen walking through the streets of Washington and promising she would bring her gun to Congress to stand up for the Second Amendment.
“Even though I now work in one of the most liberal cities in America, I refuse to give up my rights, especially my Second Amendment Rights,” the ad starts.
As the camera pans to show Boebart walking, up flashes “I will carry my Glock to Congress” in glittery purple font.
Let me tell you why I WILL carry my Glock to Congress.
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) January 4, 2021
Government does NOT get to tell me or my constituents how we are allowed to keep our families safe.
I promise to always stand strong for our 2nd Amendment rights.https://t.co/E75tYpdN4B pic.twitter.com/qg7QGenrNo
The brand-new elected politician, of Colorado’s Third Congressional District which includes a municipality called Rifle, continues narrating in the ad, saying “I will carry my firearm in DC and in Congress”.
Apparently, she cannot. The DC police have made it clear the city has strict laws as to whom can carry a concealed weapon, Boebert not included.
“That Congresswoman will be subjected to the same penalties as anyone else that’s caught on the DC streets carrying a firearm,” said DC Police Chief Robert Contee III, who plans on speaking with Boebert this week.
“Here are the real reasons why I choose to defend myself in our nation’s capital,” she said while blasting Democrats and the media for bashing her for her remarks on bringing a gun to the capital.
“As a 5-foot-tall, 100-pound (152cm, 45kg) woman, I choose to protect myself legally, because I am my best security.
“I’m a woman and a mother of four. I choose to defend my family with all of the force the Constitution provides. D.C. is one of the top 10 most dangerous cities in our country. Homicide rates, and violent crimes are skyrocketing here.
“I don’t go to work in a motorcade or armoured car. I don’t get police escorts everywhere I go. I walk to my office every morning, by myself.”
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, a former member of Congress, said many politicians in Washington took guns onto the political campus - and she knew of a few who took them into the debate chamber.
‘FIGHT LIKE HELL’: TRUMP PRESSES VP TO OVERTURN ELECTION RESULT
Donald Trump is still trying to reverse his election defeat as he lashed out at Republicans opposing his efforts.
He converged with President-elect Joe Biden in Georgia for duelling rallies on the eve of two runoffs that will decide control of the US Senate.
Mr Trump, a day after the release of a bombshell recording in which he pressures Georgia officials to overturn his election loss in the southern state, hosted a rally in the rural city of Dalton for Republican incumbent senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue.
His first words were: “That was a rigged election”.
He continued: “They’re not taking this White House,” Trump said of Democrats.
“We’re going to fight like hell.”
Mr Trump made clear he wants Vice-President Mike Pence’s help to overturn the election when the VP presides over Wednesday’s joint session of Congress.
“I hope Mike Pence comes through for us,” Mr Trump told the Georgia rally, less than 48 hours before the House and Senate will meet together to count the electoral votes and hear challenges from GOP politicians
“If he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him quite as much.”
He also attacked the US supreme court for not overturning the 2020 election results.
“The supreme court has let us down,” he said, adding “So far. Who knows? Maybe they’ll come back.”
The president’s presence is provocative in that he has described Georgia’s election process as “illegal and invalid,” criticism that some observers warn may have the unintended effect of suppressing Republican votes tomorrow.
Biden, who takes over the White House on January 20, flew to Georgia’s capital Atlanta to campaign for Democratic challengers Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff.
“Folks, this is it!” the 78-year-old Biden told cheering voters at a drive-in rally.
“It’s a new year, and tomorrow can be a new day for Atlanta, for Georgia and for America.” He attacked Trump for his relentless “whining and complaining” about unproven election fraud instead of improving the nation’s coronavirus pandemic response.
“I don’t know why he still wants the job, he doesn’t want to do the work,” Biden said.
Georgia has been reliably Republican but Biden beat Trump by nearly 12,000 votes in the Peach State in November’s election, and polls have the Senate races neck-and-neck.
Both parties have poured unprecedented resources into the runoffs, and early voting numbers have set records.
TRUMP DEMANDS VOTES BE FOUND IN BOMBSHELL CALL
Donald Trump pressured the Georgia secretary of state in an extraordinary phone conversation on Saturday to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s victory in the Southern state, news media reported Sunday.
The secretly taped conversation with fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, first reported by the Washington Post, includes threats that Raffensperger and another Georgia official could face “a big risk” if they failed to pursue his request.
“The people of Georgia are angry, the people in the country are angry,” Trump is heard saying on the tape, parts of which were aired by CNN.
“And there’s nothing wrong with saying, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated,” the president says. “You’re off by hundreds of thousands of votes.” Raffensperger is heard responding: “Well, Mr. President, the challenge that you have is, the data you have is wrong.” Biden won the long Republican-leaning state by fewer than 12,000 votes – a margin unchanged after recounts and audits. None of Trump’s allegations have been supported.
Even a hypothetical reversal there would not deprive Biden of victory. Word of the recording came at an extraordinary juncture, two days before special run-off elections in Georgia that will decide control of the US Senate, and three days before Congress is to certify the results of the November 3 election.
That certification, normally routine, is now being challenged by scores of politicians at Trump’s behest.
Ahead of the release of the audio, Trump tweeted about the call, saying that Raffensperger “was unwilling, or unable, to answer questions such as the ‘ballots under table’ scam, ballot destruction, out of state ‘voters’, dead voters, and more.” After the release, the White House declined to comment.
Democrats were quick to condemn the call.
“Trump’s contempt for democracy is laid bare,” Representative Adam Schiff said on Twitter. “Once again. On tape.
“Pressuring an election official to ‘find’ the votes so he can win is potentially criminal, and another flagrant abuse of power by a corrupt man who would be a despot, if we allowed him. We will not.” Some political commentators compared the call to the Watergate tapes that led to the fall of President Richard Nixon.
John Dean, a White House counsel to Nixon before turning against him, told CNN that the new tape was “very damning for the president.” “It’s pretty ugly.” Trump has waged an all-out fight against the election results. But scores of recounts and lawsuits, as well as a review by his own Justice Department, have failed to substantiate the claims.
At one point, he invited Republican election officials from Michigan to the White House in an apparent effort to pressure them over their vote certification.
He also pressed Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, in a separate phone call.
Raffensperger and other election officials who have rejected Trump’s entreaties, in Georgia and other states, have received death threats from his supporters.
It was not clear who released the tape, but under Georgia law Raffensperger could legally have taped it without Trump’s consent.
PELOSI NARROWLY RE-ELECTED AS HOUSE SPEAKER
Nancy Pelosi, the only woman to serve as US Speaker of the House, was narrowly re-elected to the position in a deeply divided new Congress that convened in the final weeks of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Pelosi, 80, faced a scare when five fellow Democrats defected and voted “present” or for someone else during the floor vote.
But the woman who is third in line to the presidency secured her fourth – and perhaps final – non-consecutive term as House speaker by earning 216 votes versus 209 for Republican leader Kevin McCarthy.
In a symbolic gesture beginning the 117th Congress, McCarthy formally handed the speaker’s gavel over to Pelosi on Monday (AEDT), who raised it in triumph as Democrats cheered and applauded.
“We begin the new Congress during a time of extraordinary difficulty,” Pelosi told the chamber, noting the toll of 350,000 dead and 20 million infected by COVID-19.
“Our most urgent priority will continue to be defeating the coronavirus,” a masked Pelosi said. “And defeat it, we will.”
The vote took hours, as politicians were required to vote in groups of several dozen due to social distancing rules imposed during the coronavirus pandemic.
Pelosi has been Trump’s chief nemesis in Congress, and the two clashed bitterly over the past two years, particularly as she levelled impeachment charges against the president.
Trump was impeached in December 2019, but the Senate acquitted him early in 2020. His successor, Joe Biden, takes office on January 20.
With Pelosi scrambling to keep her post, it was a handful of progressive politicians and members-elect who have been critical of her leadership but ultimately voted for her.
CRUZ LEADS REPUBLICAN PUSH FOR AUDIT
A coalition of GOP senators led by senior Republican figure Ted Cruz has demanded an emergency 10-day audit of the Presidential election result – or they say they will refuse to certify Joe Biden’s victory in Congress next week.
Senator Cruz, who was runner-up to Donald Trump in the 2016 Republican race, along with 10 fellow senators and senators-elect, say that the election “featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud and illegal conduct.”
“Voter fraud has posed a persistent challenge in our elections, although its breadth and scope are disputed. By any measure, the allegations of fraud and irregularities in the 2020 election exceed any in our lifetimes,” the Cruz-led group said in a statement.
A source familiar with the effort told Fox News that it was Cruz who orchestrated the effort, working with other senators to organise the push against the certification and call for the electoral commission with just days to go before the joint session of Congress.
The Cruz group said there was a precedent of Democrats objecting to election results in 1969, 2001, 2005 and 2019.
In a separate move, as many as 140 Republicans in Congress are said to be set to object to the election result due to the failure of some state to follow their own election laws.
The developments came as the Democrats and the Republicans prepared to square off in two “run off” senate elections in Georgia next week. The result will determine whether the Democrats control the White House, The House of Reps and the Senate, giving Joe Biden unfettered power.
Early voting in the run off elections, which are only held in Georgia and Louisiana when no candidate wins 50 per cent of the popular vote, ended Friday.
The local newspaper, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, analysed the early voting patterns and concluded the Democrats had taken an early lead.
The Republicans must win one of the two seats to retain control of the Senate.
Georgia’s largest paper said its review showed more ballots were cast by Democrat-leaning demographics and came from left-leaning parts of the state. the New York Post said.
A record total of 3,002,100 early votes have been cast. Black voters — who generally support Democrats in the state by overwhelming numbers — are voting in higher numbers than they did in the presidential election, the paper reported.
Turnout in rural and more conservative-leaning portions of the state have lagged.
BIG PROTEST RALLY LOOMS
Donald Trump is hyping a “BIG Protest Rally” in Washington the same day the “140 Republicans” plan to vote against certifying Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election.
Trump tweeted: ‘The BIG Protest Rally in Washington, D.C., will take place at 11.00 A.M. on January 6th. Locational details to follow. StopTheSteal!”
Massive amounts of evidence will be presented on the 6th. We won, BIG! https://t.co/ymncRrNR5t
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 1, 2021
The certification vote happening the same day has been seen as a formality in declaring Biden as the next president of the United States.
In early December, Biden solidified his win after gaining 306 electoral votes to Trump’s 232 after all 538 electors met in their respective states to cast their votes for president.
While the refusal to certify the result cannot keep Mr Biden out of the White House, the action can delay proceedings and frustrate the Democrats.
But Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell (Republican) is not expected to join that contingent. He’s expected to vote to certify for Mr Biden and has dubbed the looming vote as “the most consequential” he has ever cast, three sources revealed to AXIOS.
McConnell was paraphrased by one of the sources, saying: “I’m finishing 36 years in the Senate and I’ve cast a lot of big votes.
“And in my view, just my view, this is will be the most consequential I have ever cast.”
The source explained: “The context was McConnell saying we’re being asked to overturn the results after a guy didn’t get as many electoral votes and lost by 7 million popular votes.”
The conference call with the news outlet followed Missouri senator Josh Hawley’s announcement that he will contest the electoral college vote certification that secured Biden’s win.
The 40-year-old politician – who is the youngest senator in the US – revealed his decision on December 30.
His objection would guarantee debate and vote in the House and Senate on the Electoral College results, according to The Hill.
“I cannot vote to certify the electoral college results on January 6 without raising the fact that some states, particularly Pennsylvania, failed to follow their own state election laws.
“And I cannot vote to certify without pointing out the unprecedented effort of mega-corporations, including Facebook and Twitter, to interfere in this election, in support of Joe Biden.
“At the very least, Congress should investigate allegations of voter fraud and adopt measures to secure the integrity of our elections. But Congress has so far failed to act.”
Originally published as Trump was ‘dismissed as a prank caller 18 times’ before finally getting through for his ‘find 11,780 votes’ chat
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