The two officials ’statements represent an unusual public rejection for Trump, who continues to exert enormous influence on the party and whose shadow hangs in the January run-down election in which two Trump-allied GOP senators hope to retain their seats.
“Georgian law prohibits the governor from interfering in elections. The secretary of state, who is an elected constitutional officer, oversees elections that cannot be overridden by an executive order,” said Cody Hall, Kemp’s communications director. “As the governor has said several times, he will continue to follow the law and encourage the Secretary of State to take reasonable steps, including sample testing of signatures, to restore trust and address the serious issues raised.”
However, election officials said it was physically impossible to “verify signatures” from mail. Trump and Kemp had previously demanded “verification of signatures” from postal ballot papers, but election officials have repeatedly said it was literally impossible at this stage of the process. Election officials have already double-checked voters ’signatures, and then the ballot papers have been permanently separated from the envelope.
Also on Monday, Raffensperger insisted at a press conference that “the truth matters” and repressed the “huge” election disinformation being spread by Trump and Republican allies.
“There are those who exploit the emotions of many Trump supporters with fantastic statements, half-truths, misinformation, and, frankly, are obviously misleading the president as well,” he said.
He also said that the post-election audit, along with the ongoing recount, proves the election was fair.
“Once this recount is complete, everyone in Georgia can have even more confidence in the outcome of our elections,” he said, adding that the recount is well on track to be completed by Wednesday evening’s deadline.
The secretary of state said his office is continuing to investigate credible allegations of illegal voting and possible violations of the state election law. Raffensperger says more than 250 open election irregularities are currently being investigated as of 2020. Nearly 5 million votes were received nationwide.
The president has repeatedly criticized both men. On Monday, he called Kemppe “unfortunate” and urged the governor to use Raffensperger’s “override” with his urgency, a day after he was “ashamed” by the Fox News agency, he approved the governor. The president also called Raffensperger a “people’s enemy” last week.
CNN’s Kristen Holmes and Marshall Cohen contributed to this report.
