New Trump recording shows he pressured Michigan election officials not to certify 2020 election results
Former President Donald Trump pressured election officials in Michigan not to certify the results of the 2020 presidential election, the Detroit News reported Thursday.
Trump and Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel called two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers – the body that certifies election results for Michigan’s most populous county, home to Detroit – to urge them not to sign off on the results, according to a recording of the call reviewed by the News.
“We’ve got to fight for our country,” Trump reportedly told Monica Palmer and William Hartmann on Nov. 17, 2020. “We can’t let these people take our country away from us.”
The report sheds new light on the Trump campaign’s efforts to contest the election results in the key swing state and comes amid two criminal cases against Trump at the state and federal level related to election interference.
President Joe Biden defeated Trump by around 154,000 votes in Michigan in 2020, and multiple legal cases alleging election fraud were dismissed by courts for lack of evidence. A state Senate committee run by Republican members also investigated claims of fraud and found them unsubstantiated.
Trump and McDaniel called the two Republican canvassers shortly after the panel voted to certify the county’s election results after they had first voted against certification and deadlocked the four-member board. Trump reportedly told them they would look “terrible” if they then signed the documents to finalize certification.
“If you can go home tonight, do not sign it. … We will get you attorneys,” McDaniel reportedly said.
Palmer and Hartmann did leave the meeting without signing the documents. The next day, they petitioned to rescind their votes in favor of certification, though that effort failed. Palmer had previously said that Trump had called her that night to thank her and to express concerns about her safety.
Spokespeople for Palmer, McDaniel and Trump did not dispute a summary of the call, the News reported. Hartmann died in 2021.
Trump’s 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,” spokesperson Steven Cheung told USA TODAY in a statement.
Trump faces federal felony charges for his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. Prosecutors argue that Trump knowingly promoted lies about election fraud, organized slates of fake electors in states like Michigan, and pushed then-Vice President Mike Pence not to certify the results on Jan. 6, 2021. That trial is slated to begin March 4.
The former president also faces criminal charges in Georgia for attempting to overturn the election in that state. The state alleges that Trump led a “criminal racketeering enterprise” to change the election results, including pushing a slate of fake electors, harassing county election workers, illegally copying data off elections equipment and asking Georgia’s Republican secretary of state to find enough votes for him to win.
