As reported by the Daily Wire, the Washington Post is now coming under significant fire for attributing “fraudulent quotes” to Trump based on a single anonymous source supposedly familiar with a phone call between the former president and the Georgia Secretary of State’s top investigator on December 23.
This report, which was supposedly confirmed by multiple other news outlets at the time, was a central pillar in the Left’s attack on Trump and his ongoing claims of election fraud.
Months later, the truth has finally been uncovered, exposing the Washington Post and the outlets who “confirmed” their false claims. Here’s everything you need to know.
December 23, 2020 — Trump’s call with chief investigator
On December 23, Trump called the chief investigator for the Georgia Secretary of State’s office, who was conducting an audit of election ballots in Cobb County, Georgia. The audit was ordered by Brad Raffensperger in response to allegations of election fraud. The audit ended on December 29, with Georgia officials concluding that there was no evidence of fraud.
January 3, 2021 — Trump’s call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger
On January 3, the Washington Post published an exclusive piece titled, “‘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.” Written by Amy Gardner, the piece described the December 23 phone call between Donald Trump and the Georgia Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger.
In the first paragraph, Gardner reported that Trump instructed Raffensperger to “find enough votes.”
“President Trump urged fellow Republican Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia secretary of state, to ‘find’ enough votes to overturn his defeat in an extraordinary one-hour phone call Saturday that legal scholars described as a flagrant abuse of power and a potential criminal act,” the piece began.
“The Washington Post obtained a recording of the conversation in which Trump alternately berated Raffensperger, tried to flatter him, begged him to act and threatened him with vague criminal consequences if the secretary of state refused to pursue his false claims, at one point warning that Raffensperger was taking ‘a big risk,’” Gardner continued.
“Throughout the call, Raffensperger and his office’s general counsel rejected Trump’s assertions, explaining that the president is relying on debunked conspiracy theories and that President-elect Joe Biden’s 11,779-vote victory in Georgia was fair and accurate,” the report added.
January 9, 2021 — The Washington Post cites anonymous source, claiming that Trump told investigator to “find the fraud”
On January 9, Amy Gardner published another piece for the Washington Post. According to Vox, this report stated that “President Donald Trump pressured a top Georgia state election investigator, who was in charge of looking into allegations of vote irregularities in the 2020 presidential election, to ‘find the fraud’ in a late December phone call.”
The Vox report continued, saying that “The Post withheld the name of the Georgia official, citing ‘the risk of threats and harassment directed at election officials,’ but describing the person as ‘investigations chief for the Georgia secretary of state’s office.’”
The Washington Post piece also implied that Trump’s alleged actions are tantamount to obstruction.
“Former federal prosecutor in New York, and onetime attorney on the Watergate prosecution team, Nick Akerman told the Post that Trump’s call with the election investigator could amount to election fraud, though it may be difficult to prove,” the Vox report added.
“‘Oh my god, of course that’s obstruction — any way you cut it,’ he told the Post.”
March 11, 2021 — The Wall Street Journal releases December 23 recording
In an exclusive piece titled, “Trump Call to Georgia Lead Investigator Reveals New Details,” the Wall Street Journal released an audio recording of the six-minute call.
“Then-President Donald Trump urged the chief investigator of the Georgia Secretary of State’s office to look for fraud during an audit of mail-in ballots in a suburban Atlanta county, on a phone call he made to her in late December,” the report began.
“During the six-minute call, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Trump repeatedly said that he won Georgia. ‘Something bad happened,’ he said.
‘When the right answer comes out, you’ll be praised,’ Mr. Trump told the chief investigator, Frances Watson,” the report continued.
“She responded: ‘I can assure you that our team and the [Georgia Bureau of Investigation], that we are only interested in the truth and finding the information that is based on the facts.’”
The Wall Street Journal piece referenced the Washington Post’s January report, but did not point out that the Post’s claims were unsubstantiated.
“The Washington Post reported on the call in January, but this is the first time the recording has been released,” the report added.
March 11 — The Washington Post retracts the central claim
On March 11, the Washington Post updated the January 9 article, whose title is now, “Trump pressured a Georgia elections investigator in a separate call legal experts say could amount to obstruction.”
In addition to altering the story itself, a correction was added.
“Correction: Two months after publication of this story, the Georgia secretary of state released an audio recording of President Donald Trump’s December phone call with the state’s top elections investigator. The recording revealed that The Post misquoted Trump’s comments on the call, based on information provided by a source. Trump did not tell the investigator to ‘find the fraud’ or say she would be ‘a national hero’ if she did so. Instead, Trump urged the investigator to scrutinize ballots in Fulton County, Ga., asserting she would find ‘dishonesty’ there. He also told her that she had ‘the most important job in the country right now.’ A story about the recording can be found here. The headline and text of this story have been corrected to remove quotes misattributed to Trump.”
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.