Donald Trump Election Interference: Leaked Tapes Show Ex-POTUS and RNC Chair Rona McDaniel Intimidating Michigan Election Canvassers
A new recording of former President Donald Trump and Republican National Committee (RNC) Chairwoman blatantly intimidating Wayne County canvassers in Michigan has surfaced, and they could mean bad news for the ex-POTUS in his federal election interference case in Washington, DC.
A bombshell new report from The Detroit News revealed Trump has personally pressured two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers and told them not to sign the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
The audio came from a recorded November 17, 2020 phone call involving Trump, McDaniel, and Michigan Republican canvassers Monica Palmer and William Hartmann. Trump reportedly told the two GOP Wayne County canvassers that they would look "terrible" if they ever signed the documents after they first voted in opposition to it in the same meeting.
"We've got to fight for our country," the then-president reportedly told the two Republican canvassers. "We can't let these people take our country away from us."
Meanwhile, McDaniel, who is actually from Michigan, told the two, "If you can go home tonight, do not sign it. ... We will get you attorneys." Trump then added, "We'll take care of that."
After the call, both Palmer and Hartmann left the meeting without signing the official statement of votes for Wayne County. The next day, they tried to rescind their votes in favor of certification, but their attempts were unsuccessful. In their legal affidavits, they admitted they were pressured.
It was noted that had they been successful in their attempt not to canvass the results, they would have "threatened to throw the statewide certification of Michigan's 2020 election into doubt."
Leaked Michigan Tapes Regarding Donald Trump May Count as Election Interference Case
When the recordings came out, neither Trump nor McDaniel disputed the summary of the recordings. Trump spokesman Steven Cheung even told Detroit News that the former president's actions "were taken in furtherance of his duty as president of the United States to faithfully take care of the laws and ensure election integrity, including investigating the rigged and stolen 2020 presidential election."
READ MORE: Donald Trump Tried To Spread Fake News About New York Judge Overseeing Fraud Trial But Gets Exposed
However, legally, this can be made as evidence of election interference as even though Trump was president at that time, he was also one of the candidates with a stake in the results.
"It's just shocking that the president of the United States was at the most minute level trying to stop the election process from happening," admitted Jonathan Kinloch, a Democratic member of the Wayne Board of Canvassers, also calling the call to be "insane."
Jack Smith Can Use Leaked Michigan Tapes Vs. Donald Trump in Election Interference Case
Trump already faces four counts of criminal conspiracy to defraud the United States in his effort to overturn the 2020 election results, and these recordings may be submitted as evidence in that case, especially in Jack Smith's federal investigation, as well as Fani Willis's Georgia investigation.
The tape tells a sinister story, according to former federal judge J. Michael Luttigm, who told Politico, "This new evidence is of a piece with, and bolsters, the considerable other similar evidence of the former president's interference in the 2020 presidential election that both Jack Smith and Fani Willis have assembled."
The former judge explained, "The president was not acting in furtherance of his duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed when he attempted to interfere in the presidential election in Michigan and elsewhere."
Former Trump attorney Ty Cobb also agrees that this might be election interference, admitting that he saw the recordings as "likely a violation" of the federal honest services fraud statute.
He also stated that McDaniel is implicated in this as well, adding, "McDaniel is equally exposed. Clearly, evidence going to the core conspiracies charged by the special prosecutor."
This article is owned by Latin Post.
Written by: Rick Martin
WATCH: New report on Trump's efforts to overturn 2020 results in Michigan could add to his legal problems - MSNBC
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