Former Georgia state Rep. Vernon Jones called on Georgia’s secretary of state to resign following the media misquoting former President Donald Trump’s phone call with a top state investigator about alleged election fraud.
“It has now been uncovered that the Georgia Secretary of State’s released a deceptively edited recording of the President, in attempt to embarrass him and mislead the public. He should resign immediately,” Jones tweeted Monday of Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger. “Georgians deserve better.”
It has now been uncovered that the Georgia Secretary of State’s released a deceptively edited recording of the President, in attempt to embarrass him and mislead the public.
He should resign immediately.
Georgians deserve better.
— Vernon Jones (@RepVernonJones) March 15, 2021
Reports circulated in January that on a Dec. 23 phone call, Trump told Frances Watson, Georgia’s chief investigator of the secretary of state’s office, to “find the fraud,” and if she did, she would be a “national hero.” Media outlets, such as the Washington Post, were forced to issue corrections after the Wall Street Journal published audio of the call Thursday, which contained no such quotes.
State officials initially said audio of the call likely didn’t exist, however, it was later found in the trash folder of Watson’s device.
The Washington Post based its report on an account by Jordan Fuchs, the deputy secretary of state, not a deceptively edited recording, as Jones claims.
MEDIA MISQUOTED TRUMP IN NOTORIOUS PHONE CALL WITH GEORGIA INVESTIGATOR
“Two months after publication of this story, the Georgia secretary of state released an audio recording of President Donald Trump’s December phone call with the state’s top elections investigator. The recording revealed that The Post misquoted Trump’s comments on the call, based on information provided by a source,” the Post’s correction says.
“Trump did not tell the investigator to ‘find the fraud’ or say she would be ‘a national hero’ if she did so. Instead, Trump urged the investigator to scrutinize ballots in Fulton County, Ga., asserting she would find ‘dishonesty’ there. He also told her that she had ‘the most important job in the country right now.'”
Trump addressed the Washington Post’s correction on Monday evening in a statement released by his Save America PAC, in which he called the original story a “hoax.”
“While I appreciate the Washington Post’s correction, which immediately makes the Georgia Witch Hunt a non-story, the original story was a Hoax, right from the very beginning. I would further appreciate a strong investigation into Fulton County, Georgia, and the Stacey Abrams political machine which, I believe, would totally change the course of the presidential election in Georgia,” Trump wrote.
The initial reports sparked a media frenzy, with outlets across the nation using the falsified quotes in headlines.
“Trump pressured Georgia election investigator to ‘find the fraud’ in December phone call,” a USA Today article headline read.
“On December call, Trump urged Georgia elections investigator to ‘find the fraud’: Source,” ABC News’s headline read.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
The Georgia secretary of state’s office is also conducting an investigation into other phone calls Trump made to state leaders about tracking down potential voter fraud.
Jones has been a vocal supporter of the former president and announced earlier this year he was leaving the Democratic Party for the GOP because “the Republican Party is in desperate need of leaders that know how to fight.”
