I went through the transcript of the phone call, and I went through the OCGA, and I can honestly say that I don't identify a crime.
The closest Trump comes is solicitation to receive a thing of value for an official act, but he doesn't offer a concrete thing.
The vague threat of a crime might work if Raffensperger were an "officer of the court," like a probation officer, but here, I don't think he qualifies.
Remember that criminal laws are written by professional politicians, who create the broadest possible laws to address, for instance, possession of an imitation drug, and some of the narrowest when it comes to their own wheeling and dealing.
The influencing a witness statute is quite broad, and the proceeding need not be "pending," but still hard to imagine that the SoS is a potential witness, or that the Trump campaign is asking to alter or mutilate documents.
This might be the best bet, though.
Someone suggested that his might be solicitation to commit election fraud, as suggested in this statute.
But the advantage of Trump being vague and rambling is that he doesn't suggest any particular action, just "finding" bad votes by sitting down with his lawyers.
I'm not a prosecutor, and, as a long-time defense attorney, I might be more shy than a prosecutor about chasing a creative theory. But based on the laws I've reviewed so far, I don't think there's PC for a crime.
Happy to be wrong, though.
Here's a crime that ONLY the Secretary of State can directly commit, preventing him from withholding or altering documents. You could try solicitation here, but again, no direct ask that any particular documents be altered.
Here's a SUPER broad law that could mean almost anything, but it's only a misdemeanor.
I've seen OCGA 24-2-604 suggested, but I'm a little uncomfortable with it because "election fraud" is undefined and there are no reported cases.
Assuming election fraud means that it violated some other part of OCGA 24-2, then I'd need to see the specific statute, and the specific ask that violates that statute.
75% of this call was just Trump lying about fraud.
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
Oh man the Trump campaign has filed an emergency petition to the Supreme Court of Georgia and I'm already loving the excuse for them forgetting to pay the filing fee:
"There was just so much gosh darned evidence the computers must have clogged"
Ok, so the argument here is that Judge Russell in Fulton County isn't qualified to preside over their election challenge because she's an active judge who lives in Fulton County.
She hasn't issued any rulings yet, but they want an emergency order for a new judge.
This is not great. "Lots of stuff keeps going wrong with these filings and none of it is our fault, please help."
And then, it certainly sounds like they aren't even sure they've filed a motion for a different judge.
The Constitution specifically says that state legislatures are responsible for choosing how electors are chosen. Letting other states decide for them, or claim injury if they don't like their choice, would violate the Constitution.
And of course, it's not just standing here, but laches. Waiting until after the election to file these lawsuits means that tens of millions of people could lose their vote, in which they have a liberty interest, without notice or a hearing.
That also violates the Constitution.
And also, it just doesn't make sense to allow ordinary people to sue because one branch of government has usurped the power of another, without injury. We don't typically sue to vindicate other people's rights.
Conservatives understood this concept for emoluments.
Until recently, most Bibles translated exodus to say that if a man fought a woman and caused her to miscarry, the penalty was a few shekels.
When that became politically incorrect, the translations changed.
Lots and lots of Christians, for thousands of years, have believed that life began at the quickening, when movement in the womb could be felt, rather than conception.
Jesus spoke explicitly about divorce, but never about abortion. Yet only one is acceptable to evangelicals.