The Raffensperger Call: Trump's Hour-Long Pressure Campaign to Overturn the Georgia Election Results
Tier 3Documented2021-01-02 to 2021-01-03
Factual Summary
On January 2, 2021, President Donald Trump placed an hour-long phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, a fellow Republican, in which Trump pressured Raffensperger to alter the certified results of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia. The call was recorded by Raffensperger's office and published by The Washington Post on January 3, 2021. The full audio and transcript constitute a complete primary source record of the conversation.
Trump was joined on the call by White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, trade adviser Peter Navarro, law professor John Eastman, and attorneys Rudy Giuliani, Cleta Mitchell, Alex Kaufman, and Kurt Hilbert. Raffensperger was accompanied by his general counsel, Ryan Germany.
During the call, Trump made the following specific requests and claims:
Trump told Raffensperger: "I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state." Joe Biden had won Georgia by 11,779 votes.
Trump falsely claimed that he had won Georgia by "hundreds of thousands of votes" and that the certified results were wrong. He cited multiple conspiracy theories that Raffensperger and his team corrected in real time on the call.
Trump claimed that "at least 18,000 ballots" were pulled from "suitcases" at State Farm Arena in Atlanta and that all were for Biden. Raffensperger's office responded that the FBI, the U.S. Attorney, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the Secretary of State's office had all investigated this claim and found it to be false. The "suitcases" were standard ballot containers, and the ballots had been counted properly.
Trump claimed that more than 5,000 dead people voted in Georgia. Raffensperger responded that the actual number confirmed at that point was two, and that subsequent review found a total of four.
Trump claimed that 4,502 voters were not registered to vote. Raffensperger's office determined this claim was based on a flawed data analysis.
Trump claimed that thousands of out-of-state voters had voted illegally in Georgia. Raffensperger's team stated that their investigation had not substantiated this claim.
Trump suggested there could be legal consequences for Raffensperger if he did not act, stating: "That's a criminal offense. And you can't let that happen. That's a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer." Raffensperger responded: "Mr. President, the problem you have with social media, they can put anything out there. And the people who did, I believe that, but we did an investigation, and we didn't find that to be the case."
The call was a central element of the Fulton County, Georgia, criminal indictment against Trump issued in August 2023, which charged Trump and 18 co-defendants with violations of Georgia's RICO statute in connection with efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
Primary Sources
1. Audio recording of the Trump-Raffensperger phone call, January 2, 2021, published by The Washington Post
2. Full transcript of the call, available via Rev.com and multiple news organizations
3. Fulton County Grand Jury Indictment, State of Georgia v. Donald John Trump et al., Case No. 23SC188947, August 14, 2023
Corroborating Sources
1. Washington Post: "'I just want to find 11,780 votes': In extraordinary hour-long call, Trump pressures Georgia secretary of state to recalculate the vote in his favor," January 3, 2021
2. NPR: "Georgia officials fact-check an infamous Trump phone call in real time," June 21, 2022
3. Brennan Center for Justice: "Fact Check: Trump's Georgia Call to Raffensperger," January 2021
4. Axios: "Flashback: The call that got Trump in trouble in Georgia," August 15, 2023
5. Georgia Public Broadcasting: "Trump to Georgia Election Officials: 'I Just Want To Find 11,780 Votes,'" January 3, 2021
Counterarguments and Context
Trump and his legal team argued that the call was a legitimate exercise of presidential concern about election integrity and that Trump genuinely believed the election had been stolen. His attorneys contended that asking a state official to investigate potential fraud is not a crime, and that Trump was merely requesting an audit rather than demanding that Raffensperger fabricate votes. The phrase "find 11,780 votes" has been defended by Trump allies as shorthand for uncovering ballots they believed had been improperly excluded or fraudulently cast. Trump's attorneys also argued that the call was protected by First Amendment speech rights and presidential immunity. However, the recording itself documents Trump making specific factual claims that Raffensperger corrected in real time, then continuing to repeat the same or similar claims. The request to "find" a number of votes exactly one more than the margin of loss is documented in Trump's own words. The implied threat of criminal liability for Raffensperger if he did not comply is also audible on the recording. Multiple state and federal courts, the Department of Justice, and Georgia's own Republican officials had already reviewed and rejected the fraud claims Trump cited on the call.
Author's Note
This entry is classified as Tier 3 because the entire call is available as a primary source audio recording and transcript. The factual record requires no interpretive inference: the words Trump spoke are documented verbatim. The legal significance of the call is the subject of pending criminal proceedings in Fulton County, Georgia, and future adjudication may elevate the tier classification. This entry focuses on the documented content of the call itself rather than the broader Georgia election interference case, which is addressed separately.