Trump urges ‘the hapless Governor of Georgia…to overrule his obstinate Secretary of State’
Annaliese Levy
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In a tweet Monday, President Donald Trump asked Governor Brian Kemp to override Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on matching signatures during the state’s recount.
“Why won’t Governor @BrianKempGA, the hapless Governor of Georgia, use his emergency powers, which can be easily done, to overrule his obstinate Secretary of State, and do a match of signatures on envelopes. It will be a “goldmine” of fraud, and we will easily WIN the state….”
He added, “You may find that there are so many more ballots than there are envelopes.”
Trump said Sunday he was “ashamed” for endorsing the Republican Georgia Governor after he lost in the state to Democrat Joe Biden.
“The Governor’s done nothing,” Trump said Sunday on Fox News. “He’s done absolutely nothing. I’m ashamed that I endorsed him.”
Kemp released a statement Monday morning responding to Trump’s comments.
“Georgia law prohibits the Governor from interfering in elections. The Secretary of State, who is an elected constitutional officer, has oversight over elections that cannot be overridden by executive order. As the Governor has said repeatedly, he will continue to follow the law and encourage the Secretary of State to take reasonable steps – including a sample audit of signatures – to restore trust and address serious issues that have been raised.”
Raffensperger has said that matching the signature on the outer envelope to the absentee ballot on the inside is impossible because the ballots are separated from the envelopes when they are opened to protect voter privacy.
The Trump campaign, which asked for a recount Nov. 22, said that “without signature-matching, this recount would be a sham and again allow for illegal votes to be counted.”
The election recount was delayed in Fulton County, Ga where a Dominion Voting Systems mobile server crashed. Election officials said the recount there would resume Monday.
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