The Trump campaign answered questions from reporters in a media call on Wednesday, Nov. 11, regarding Georgia’s decision to conduct a manual recount of votes submitted for the 2020 U.S. general election.
Tim Murtaugh, the Trump campaign’s communications director, said the gain in Georgia is one step in a “methodical” nationwide process to keep President Trump in the White House, as reported by The Epoch Times.
Georgia is one of a handful of swing states that are seen as the key to this year’s presidential election, which took place on Nov. 3 but has yet to be called decisively in favor of either the Republican incumbent Trump or his Democrat challenger, former vice president Joe Biden.
Amid growing concerns of voter fraud and other illicit factors in the election, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced a hand recount of all 159 counties in Georgia on Nov. 11. The current digitized count sways in Biden’s favor, who leads President Trump by approximately 14,000 votes.
Murtaugh welcomed the recount during the media conference call, saying that “today’s announcement celebrating the hand recount in Georgia is another step along that path when we are able to do signature matching in Georgia, and being able to investigate whether votes were illegally harvested. And that will be another step. When we file a lawsuit in Michigan, that’s another step. In Pennsylvania, it’s another step.”
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He said, “And people are going to have to just be patient and know that everything is a step along the way toward the ultimate goal of the president being reelected.”
The recount is supported and to be conducted by Georgia Congressman Doug Collins, a Republican. He said on the media call, “Every illegal vote suppresses a legal vote, and we don’t want to see that happen.”
Voter confidence
Rep. Collins said that if the Biden campaign is concerned with electoral transparency, then they should join the recount effort and send representatives of their own to monitor progress.
“The real question is does the voter, a democrat republican or independent have confidence that their vote is actually counted,” he said.
In addition to the recount, the Trump campaign is pursuing allegations of several other scenarios, such as some voters being disenfranchised, ballots being illegally harvested, and signatures on mail-in ballots that do not match signatures in the election agency’s voter records.
Trump 2020 campaign adviser Stefan Passantino noted in a conference call that the recount process would be “intense,” as according to Georgia state law, the secretary of state must certify the election results by Nov. 20.
The period between now and Nov. 20 may feel a bit long for people who want to know the results in a hurry, Murtaugh said, but he also noted that it would allow enough time to conduct the recount properly and was part of the campaign’s “methodical” strategy.
If you’re looking for a single action, like a silver bullet that will turn the whole election around, it’s going to be a process,” Murtaugh said. People have to be patient and know that everything is a step on the way toward the ultimate goal of re-electing President Trump.”
‘This will require patience’
Murtaugh repeatedly cautioned patience with these legal proceedings, saying, “This will be a gradual process. This will require patience. We know that [the] president[‘s] supporters and the media want immediate results and a neat conclusion by the close of business or at least as quickly as possible. Something to tweet about and move on.”
“This is not that. This will require patience and a following of methodical steps and a process. And that’s what will be beginning soon in Georgia,” he said.
Collins noted during the call that before the election, Democrats told the public to expect that it could take weeks to get the results. In a reversal of expectations, what’s happening now is that there’s a rush on the Democratic side to declare a swift victory and begin transition to a Biden presidency, while the Republican side is opting to patiently go through the legal process.
“We’re doing what we need to do under the law. We’re doing it within the law.” Collins said.
President Trump’s campaign has filed legal actions in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Arizona over irregularities in ballot counting. In addition, Wisconsin will also undertake a recount.
“This is about making sure every legal vote is counted, and every illegal vote is not counted. It allows us to see the integrity of the process, and it allows the people on both sides of this, whether it be President Trump or Joe Biden or anyone else to say that the election process has been cleared out in a thorough way,” Collins said.
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