Sen. David Perdue said on Sunday he was “shocked” a Republican would leak a phone call between between President Trump and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, but downplayed its significance, arguing that the comments were in line with what the president has been saying since the election.
Critics, however, argue the call is evidence that President Trump, who said he wants “to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state,” pressured an election official to reverse the results in the state, which Joe Biden won with 11,779 votes.
Raffensperger told Trump on the call that the "challenge" ahead of him is "the data you have is wrong.”
Conservative attorney Cleta Mitchell, who was also on the call, said in a statement to The Washington Post that Raffensperger’s office “has made many statements over the past two months that are simply not correct and everyone involved with the efforts on behalf of the President’s election challenge has said the same thing: show us your records on which you rely to make these statements that our numbers are wrong."
Exclusive: The Post has published Trump's full phone call with Georgia election officials. Listen to the audio and read the transcript here. https://t.co/QOzHKzyMYK
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) January 3, 2021
Perdue called the leak "disgusting," but told Fox News's "The Next Revolution" that "what the president said is exactly what he’s been saying the last [two] months."
“We’ve had some irregularities in the election in November and he wants some answers,” Perdue continued. “He has not gotten them yet from our secretary of state, it’s one reason why I asked for him to resign, we haven’t got it from our state legislature because there’s been no special session called, and then the president went to court and then I went to court and the courts have denied us hearings saying it’s more of a legislative issue.”
He told host Steve Hilton that he doesn’t believe the call will affect the Jan. 5 runoff races in Georgia, where he is in a tight race against Democrat Jon Ossoff.
Perdue also said that he’s “excited” for President Trump’s visit to the state on Monday to campaign.
"He’s going to call his faithful out here," Perdue told Hilton. "The people of Georgia will determine the future direction of the country. He’s going to remind them of that.”
President @realDonaldTrump knows exactly what’s at stake in this election and how critical it is for EVERY Republican to get out and vote on Tuesday.
— David Perdue (@Perduesenate) January 4, 2021
I'm excited to have him back in Georgia tomorrow!#GASen #gapol pic.twitter.com/oM5JxbAP8S
Earlier on Sunday the Georgia Republican made clear his support of his Senate GOP colleagues in challenging the election.
“You know when I first saw the magnitude of the irregularities back in December, early December, about our November race, I called for the resignation of our secretary of state, I repeatedly called for a special session of the General Assembly to investigate," Perdue told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures." "None of that happened, and so I started calling out that the only thing left for the president is for us to object and I agreed that I would do that.”