BOMBSHELL: Trump was recorded pressuring Michigan election officials
Donald Trump has been caught on an audio recording contacting two election canvassers in Michigan, and directing them to refuse to sign documents certifying the 2020 election outcome. The recording took place only days after the election, but is only now being revealed publicly.
Trump, along with RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, had contacted Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, both of whom were Republicans and serving as canvassers for Wayne County, Michigan.
Wayne County, which encompasses Detroit, Dearborn, Westland, and other cities, has a total population around 1.8 million, and while the state chose Joe Biden by only about 150k votes, that county alone preferred Biden by over 330k votes, voting more than 2 to 1 for him over Trump.
Preventing certification of the Wayne County votes would have disenfranchised nearly 900k voters, and given the state’s electors to Trump, effectively silencing the state’s majority.
Even throwing out a fraction of the county’s votes could have flipped the outcome. Detroit News reports:
“We’ve got to fight for our country,” said Trump on the recordings, made by a person who was present for the call with Palmer and Hartmann. “We can’t let these people take our country away from us.”
The two Republicans had initially voted to reject certification of the votes, and Trump reportedly told them they would look “terrible” if they signed certification documents after rejecting them.
McDaniel told the canvassers that they should refuse to sign and that if they wnt [sic] home that night without completing the process, attorneys would be provided for them.
Trump backed the offer up, saying he would “take care of that.”
Afterwards, Palmer admitted publicly that Trump had contacted her, but the pressure she complained of was pressure to complete her task and certify the election — not pressure from Trump, according to Bridge Michigan.
In fact, she later told the January 6th Committee that she couldn’t remember what Trump had said on that call, and wasn’t even sure if he had discussed matters relating to the election outcome, Politico reported last year.
Hartmann passed away after a battle with COVID-19 in 2021, according to the New York Times.
Trump’s spokesperson, Steven Cheung, responded with a statement about the recorded call. NBC News reports:
“All of President Trump’s actions were taken in furtherance of his duty as President of the United States to faithfully take care of the laws and ensure election integrity, including investigating the rigged and stolen 2020 Presidential Election,: Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, said in a statement.
The reported audio recording of Trump’s conversation is expected to be of particular interest to Special Counsel Jack Smith in his Washington DC election interference prosecution of the former president.
Steph Bazzle covers politics and theocracy, always aiming for a world free from extremism and authoritarianism. Follow Steph on Twitter @imjustasteph.
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