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ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump badgered & pleaded with Georgia’s election chief to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state, suggesting in a telephone call that the official “find” enough votes to hand Trump the victory.

The conversation Saturday was the latest step in an unprecedented effort by a sitting president to pressure a state official to reverse the outcome of a free and fair election that he lost. The renewed intervention & the persistent and unfounded claims of fraud by the first president to lose reelection in almost 30 years come nearly 2 weeks before Trump leaves office & 2 days before twin runoffs in Georgia that will determine control of the Senate.

Trump confirmed in a tweet Sunday that he had spoken with Georgia’s secretary of state, Republican Brad Raffensperger, who tweeted that claims Trump made during the call were untrue.

Audio snippets of the conversation were posted online by The Washington Post. A recording of the call was later obtained by The Associated Press from a person who was on the call.

The president, who has refused to accept his loss to the Democratic president-elect, is heard telling Raffensperger at one point: “All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”

Wow. WaPo just released a recording showing President Trump attempting to blackmail Georgia's Secretary of State to overturn the election.

Listen: pic.twitter.com/33SO6Tyx8u

— Keith Edwards (@keithedwards) January 3, 2021

Georgia certified election results showing that Biden won the state’s Nov. 3 election by 11,779 votes.

Trump has repeatedly attacked how Raffensperger ran Georgia’s elections, claiming without evidence that the state’s 16 electoral votes were wrongly given to Biden.

“He has no clue!” Trump tweeted of Raffensperger, saying the state official “was unwilling, or unable” to answer questions about a series of claims about ballot handling & voters that have been debunked or shot down by judges & election authorities.

Raffensperger’s Twitter response: “Respectfully, President Trump: What you’re saying is not true. The truth will come out.”

Nearly all the legal challenges from Trump & his allies have been dismissed by judges, including 2 by the Supreme Court. #washingtonpost #impeachtrump #impeachthepresident #trumptapes #corruption #donaldtrump #totalitarianism #crook #trump #45 #presidenttrump #presidentialelection #threat #strongarm #intimidation #georgia #joebiden #presidentbiden #caughtontape #bradraffensperger #republicans #tedcruz #attackondemocracy #unprecedented #williambarr #mikepence #kamalaharris #extortion #electionfraud

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(Philadelphia Inquirer) In the latest volley in a long-running court battle, a Philadelphia judge has denied rapper Meek Mill’s most recent attempt to have his decade-old conviction overturned.

Common Pleas Court Judge Genece Brinkley wrote in a 47-page opinion filed late Monday that Mill did not meet his burden of proof in seeking to cast doubt on the evidence used to secure his arrest in 2007 and subsequent conviction.

In her opinion, Brinkley took aim at what she characterized as an unsatisfactory investigation by the District Attorney’s Office into allegations that Mill’s arresting officer, Reginald Graham, lacked credibility.

“The District Attorney’s apparent lack of investigation did not bolster [Mill’s] claims or clarify for this Court the reasons for … their agreement to relief,” Brinkley wrote.

She also questioned whether a longstanding process by which the prosecutor’s office and the Defender Association review potentially tainted cases was sufficiently thorough.

She added that one of the officers accusing Graham of corruption, Jeffery Walker, had credibility issues of his own, and that she was more inclined to believe testimony from Graham.

Ben Waxman, spokesperson for the District Attorney’s Office, declined to comment on Brinkley’s opinion.

If Mill’s lawyers appeal Brinkley’s ruling, it would prolong an ongoing feud between the rapper and the judge, which has been marked by celebrity outcry and accusations of judicial misconduct.

In a statement, one of Mill’s lawyers, Joe Tacopina, said Mill’s representatives were “not at all surprised by Judge Brinkley‘s decision” due to her behavior in court earlier this month, when she laughed at a defense witness.

“We continue to believe that this miscarriage of justice will be corrected upon further review, and that the public’s confidence in the impartiality of the judicial system in Pennsylvania will be restored,” Tacopina said.

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