As former U.S. President Donald Trump would have it, he was merely exercising his free-speech rights when he phoned Georgia’s then Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, in early 2021 and asked him to manufacture more than 11,000 votes so he could claim victory in a presidential race he had just lost.
"So what are we going to do here folks?” Trump asked during the one-hour call. "I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes.” Trump still oversaw the Justice Department at the time and threatened Raffensperger with criminal charges if he failed to support the attempted coup.
"What we’re seeing is not at all what you’re describing,” one of Raffensperger’s lawyers informed Trump. Trump persisted. Four days later, on Jan. 6, 2021, he delivered a speech that kicked off a violent siege of the U.S. Capitol meant to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.