Donald Trump urged two Michigan election offi-cials not to certify Democrat Joe Biden’s victory in the state following the 2020 presidential election, personally calling them in a pressure campaign reminiscent of his Georgia tactics, the Detroit News reported.
In a Nov 17, 2020, phone call, the then-president told two fellow Republicans on the Wayne County Board of Canvassers not to sign the state election’s certification, saying they would look “terrible” and must “fight for our country”, according to recordings of the call reviewed by the Michigan news outlet.
Wayne County is the Midwestern state’s most populous county and includes Detroit, a Democratic city with a significant Black majority population. In the recordings, Trump says Republicans had been “cheated on this election” and that “everybody knows Detroit is crooked as hell”, according to the report published on Thursday.
The reported call comes as Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican 2024 nomination, faces federal and state criminal charges over allegations he conspired to overturn the 2020 presidential election in an effort that culminated in a violent attack on Congress.
Trump has denied any wrongdoing and blasted the charges as a political witch hunt aimed at thwarting his campaign while also continuing to spread false claims of widespread voting fraud in 2020.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung, asked about the Michigan report, said: “Trumps 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.” In Georgia, Trump faces charges over his efforts to overturn his loss to Biden, including a personal phone call to Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to “find” enough votes to reverse his defeat in that state, which the official declined to do.—APP
