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Washington (AP) - The incumbent US President Donald Trump continues to fight against his electoral defeat: In an unusual telephone call, the 74-year-old urged a subsequent change in the result in the state of Georgia.
In an hour-long conversation, Trump bluntly urged State Secretary Brad Raffensperger, who was responsible for holding the election, to “find” enough votes for him and “recalculate” the result, as the Washington Post reported on Sunday.
The newspaper published parts of a recording of Saturday's conversation.
Other US media, including the AP news agency, later reported on the content of the conversation, citing recordings they had made.
Republican Trump wrote on Twitter about the phone call with Raffensperger and insulted his party colleagues as "clueless".
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Trump threatened Raffensperger in the phone call that he was taking a “great risk” and that he might be guilty of a crime if he did not take action against election fraud.
The incumbent president narrowly lost Georgia in the November 3rd election.
The Democrat Joe Biden was ahead with about 12,000 votes.
The results were recounted there twice.
The end result changed only slightly as a result, there was no evidence of electoral fraud.
In the phone call, Trump complained about the "wrong" result in Georgia and asserted that he had won the election.
"I just want to find 11,780 votes ... because we won the state," he said, according to the recording.
"We won the election and it is not fair to take the victory away from us," said Trump.
"I can't have lost Georgia."
There were "hundreds of thousands" of questionable votes, claimed Trump.
"The dead voted," he said.
Raffensperger should check the results again.
There is “nothing wrong with declaring that everything has been recalculated.
"But check it out with people who want to find answers," said Trump.
Raffensperger replied, according to the recording: “We have to stand by our numbers.
We believe our numbers are correct. "
The State Secretary also pointed out that the results would have stood up in court.
He later wrote on Twitter, referring to Trump's allegations: "With respect, Mr. President, what you say is not true."
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The Washington Post article said the “rambling and sometimes incoherent conversation” showed how “obsessed and desperate” the president was in the face of his electoral defeat.
Trump still believes that he can change the outcome in enough states to secure a second term, it said.
Trump's Chief of Staff Mark Meadows and lawyers for the Republican also took part in the phone call.
"The people of Georgia are angry," said Trump.
Runoff elections for two Senate seats will take place in the state on Tuesday, the result of which could overturn the majority of Republicans in the House of Representatives in Washington.
Trump also wanted to campaign personally in Georgia on Monday.
Trump lost the election almost two months ago but continues to refuse to acknowledge Biden's victory.
He is to be sworn in as the new President on January 20th.
Biden secured 306 votes from the electorate, significantly more than the 270 votes needed to win.
In Georgia, the votes were cast by 16 electorate.
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Trump has also questioned the results in other states, including Pennsylvania with its 20 electorate.
However, he and his allies have not been successful with their lawsuits against the results - even judges appointed by Trump have dismissed lawsuits, some with very clear reasons.
In the formal US election procedure, the certification of the results from the individual states in Congress is due on Wednesday (from 7:00 p.m. CET).
Only then will it be official who has won the election.
Republicans from the House of Representatives and the Senate have announced that they will appeal against the results of individual states during the procedure.
The disruptive action can delay the confirmation of Biden's election victory by a few hours, but has no prospect of actually changing anything in the election outcome.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210103-99-886783 / 2