Since President-elect Joe Biden decisively won the presidential election, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has pushed baseless claims that massive voter fraud could have kept outgoing President Donald Trump from securing a second term. He even conspiratorially suggested that no Republicans will be voted into the Oval Office again unless the party resists the results.
Now, Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has accused Graham of being part of a cabal of powerful politicians in his party angling to exclude legal absentee ballots to favor Trump in the Peach State, in an explosive interview with the Washington Post.
Raffensperger says that Graham was not alone in trying to disenfranchise Georgia voters to coddle the lame-duck leader’s ego.
The Georgia Secretary saved his most stinging remarks for Rep Doug Collins, a fellow Peach State Republican and a reliable Trump loyalist whose parroting of baseless conspiracy theories of voter fraud follows his turn as the departing commander-in-chief’s top defender in the House of Representatives during the impeachment proceedings.
To Raffensperger, Collins is nothing more than a “liar” and a “charlatan,” the Washington Post reported.
Graham is currently the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Collins had been the top Republican on the House Judiciary Committee.
Raffensperger has long faced fire for refusing to fall in line with Republicans efforts to somehow make Trump the winner of an election that he lost by more than 5 million votes and some dozens of electors; the secretary’s latest interview revealed that he has received death threats.
“You better not botch this recount,” one message reportedly read. “Your life depends on it.”
“Other than getting you angry, it’s also very disillusioning,” Raffensperger told the Post of the threats, “particularly when it comes from people on my side of the aisle. Everyone that is working on this needs to elevate their speech. We need to be thoughtful and careful about what we say.”
In debunking Trump, Raffensperger has linked to an Associated Press fact check on signature checks.
Raffensperger’s office did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment. In a later interview on CNN, Raffensperger reiterated that Graham implied that the secretary should “look hard and see how many ballots” he could get thrown out.
Graham called the Georgia Secretary of State’s account “ridiculous.”
This is a developing story…
[Image via Mario Tama/Getty Images]
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