On Thursday, The Detroit News revealed audio recordings that then-President Trump and Republican National Committee (RNC) Chair Ronna McDaniel pressured two election officials not to sign the certification of the 2020 presidential election results in Michigan.
According to the paper, the Nov. 17, 2020 recording was made and leaked by someone who was present for the conversation. The report claims that Donald Trump himself pressured two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, to reverse their earlier votes in favor of certifying the election results after Joe Biden won Michigan by a margin of 154,000 votes.
Election certification is the process by which election officials confirm that the counting and recording of votes are done correctly and accurately.
“We've got to fight for our country,” Trump allegedly told Palmer and Hartmann. “We can't let these people take our country away from us.” Trump added that they'd look “terrible” if they signed the certification.
“If you can go home tonight, do not sign it…We will get you attorneys,” The Detroit News reported McDaniel, a Michigan native, saying.
“We'll take care of that,” Trump allegedly added.
Newsweek continues:
Following the call, Palmer and Hartmann did not sign the official votes and tried to rescind their votes in favor of certification.
Had they been successful in their effort to rescind their votes in favor of certification, Palmer and Hartmann could've thrown Michigan's certification of the 2020 presidential election into doubt.
On X, formerly Twitter, Anthony Michael Kreis, a law professor and political scientist at Georgia State University College of Law, said McDaniel “could be in some trouble” after the news broke because offering a lawyer could be considered a bribe under the Michigan Penal Code, which is a felony.
Alongside an extract of the code, he wrote: “It seems like Ronna McDaniel could be in some trouble in Michigan and Donald Trump may be facing a fifth set of charges. A promise was offered in exchange for an official act unlike in Georgia where the preferred method appears to have been limited to browbeating state officials.”
Newsweek has not independently verified the recording's authenticity.
The Detroit News says that no one on behalf of Trump, McDaniel or Palmer has challenged the veracity of their reporting. Hartmann died in 2021.
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