Rep. Ted Lieu of Los Angeles County joined Rep. Kathleen Rice of New York Monday in asking the FBI to open a criminal investigation into a phone call in which President Donald Trump asked Georgia’s chief elections official to “find” votes and overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state.
In the recorded, hourlong call with Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, Trump is heard saying: “I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have. Because we won the state.”
Officials counted its vote three times before Georgia certified Biden’s win by 11,779 votes, Raffensperger said.
Lieu, who represents a portion of the Westside and the South Bay, co-signed a letter with Rice addressed to the FBI Director Christopher Wray asking for an “immediate criminal investigation” into the president.
In an interview with NewsNation on Monday, Lieu said “the president of the United States threatened and berated the Georgia secretary of state, to find votes for him and to recalculate, and to engage in other forms of election fraud. That is illegal under both federal and state law.”
Trump may only have 16 days left in office, but “no one is above the law,” Lieu added.
“The president cannot pardon anyone for a state crime, and my view is a president cannot pardon himself for anything at all,” the congressman said.
Other officials have condemned Trump’s actions, including GOP Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who called the conversation “deeply troubling.”
