Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has been subpoenaed by Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is leading the U.S. Department of Justice’s investigation into efforts to interfere with certifying the 2020 election on January 6, 2021, or to interfere with the lawful transfer of power.
The subpoena, obtained by The Washington Post, orders Raffensperger to produce any communications dating June 2020 through January 20, 2021, with former President Donald Trump, his campaign, and allies including some lawyers. Similar subpoenas were sent to officials in other 2020 battleground states, according to The Post.
On January 3, 2021, two days before Congress was set to certify the election results, Trump spoke with Raffensperger in a call with several top Trump officials and attorneys and pressed him to investigate the results further in the hopes of finding enough votes to flip the election results in the state. Raffensperger didn’t comply with Trump’s request, and his ongoing resistance to Republican reports of election problems in the state hasn’t endeared him to Trump or to his colleagues; he’s set to leave office at the beginning of January.
Smith’s investigation is separate from prosecutions being conducted against alleged participants in the January 6, 2021 breach of the U.S. Capitol. The investigation was launched November 18, two days after Trump announced his campaign for reelection.
“I intend to conduct the assigned investigations, and any prosecutions that may result from them, independently and in the best traditions of the Department of Justice. The pace of the investigations will not pause or flag under my watch. I will exercise independent judgement and will move the investigations forward expeditiously and thoroughly to whatever outcome the facts and the law dictate,” Smith said after being appointed special counsel in November.
Raffensperger’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment.
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Eric Burk is a reporter at The Virginia Star and The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Brad Raffensperger” by GA Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. Background Photo “January 6” by Tyler Merbler. CC BY 2.0.
