On Thursday, Trump’s legal team voluntarily dismissed the president’s remaining lawsuits against Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, citing an out-of-court settlement agreement to discuss alleged evidence of voter fraud with state officials. Kemp and Raffensperger have accepted the voluntary dismissal but refute the lawyers’ claims about the agreement.
The voluntary dismissal by Trump’s legal team followed the formal certification of President-elect Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory early Thursday morning. In the statement to the court, the president’s lawyers said that they were dismissing the suits, which name Kemp and Raffensperger, after reaching an out-of-court settlement agreement that involved discussing with state officials data allegedly showing voter fraud.
Georgia Attorney General Christopher Carr said Thursday that Kemp and Raffensperger “do not object” to the voluntary dismissal but asserted that they “do object to the false grounds articulated in the notice,” as reported by Bloomberg. State officials have made clear repeatedly that they view the claims of widespread election fraud as “frivolous.”
“The letter was not a settlement offer, as you characterize it,” Carr’s office said in an email to Trump lawyer Kurt Hilbert.
On Thursday, Raffensperger’s office released a statement declaring victory and accusing Trump’s legal team of spreading more “disinformation.”
“The President’s legal team falsely characterizes the dismissal of their lawsuits as ‘due to an out of court settlement agreement,’” the statement reads in part. “However, correspondence sent to Trump’s legal team prior to the dismissals makes perfectly clear that there is no settlement agreement. The Trump legal voluntarily dismissed their lawsuits rather than presenting their evidence in court in a trial scheduled for tomorrow in front of Cobb County Superior Court Judge Adele Grubbs.”
In a statement included in the release, Raffensperger said, “Rather than presenting their evidence and witnesses to a court and to cross-examination under oath, the Trump campaign wisely decided the smartest course was to dismiss their frivolous cases.”
Raffensperger’s office also states that the state secretary sent a letter to Congress Wednesday “containing point-by-point refutation of the false claims made by the President and his allies” and that Congress ultimately certified Georgia’s electors after the certification process recommenced Wednesday evening. One Georgia Congressman, Jody Hice, objected to the electors.
“Spreading disinformation about elections is dangerous and wrong,” said Raffensperger, who has frequently sparred with Trump in recent weeks. “It was wrong when Stacey Abrams and her allies made false claims about Georgia’s election processes following the 2018 election and run-up to the 2020 election, and it’s wrong when the President and his allies are doing it now.”