Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger testified Thursday before a special grand jury hearing evidence in an investigation into possible 2020 election interference by former President Donald Trump and others, his office confirmed to NBC News.
Raffensperger is a key witness in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' investigation into whether there were any “coordinated attempts to unlawfully alter the outcome of the 2020 elections” in Georgia.
Willis is reviewing several incidents, including Trump's Jan. 2, 2021, phone call with Raffensperger in which he urged the state's top election official to overturn Joe Biden's win. “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,” Trump said in the call.
Raffensperger refused to do as Trump demanded, and pushed back against his claims of election fraud in the state in the same call. His actions enraged Trump, who endorsed the secretary of state's Republican challenger in last week's primary election. Raffensperger defeated his Trump-backed opponent by 19 points.
The secretary of state was one of the first witnesses to be called before the 23-person special grand jury, which was empaneled last month. Willis had asked a judge to seat a grand jury in the case because it can issue subpoenas to people who have refused to cooperate.
Willis told The Associated Press this year that in addition to the Trump-Raffensperger call, her office is also reviewing a phone call between Raffensperger and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in November 2020; the abrupt resignation of the U.S. attorney in Atlanta on Jan. 4, 2021; and comments made during legislative committee hearings about the election in December 2020.
Trump maintained he did nothing wrong in the Raffensperger call, describing it as "perfect."