'Grow up': Georgia elections chief accuses GOP politicians of 'emotional abuse' with bogus voter fraud claims

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger accused Republican politicians of emotionally abusing the American public with ongoing, misleading claims of voter fraud.

On Tuesday, Raffensperger expressed concern about the election-related falsehoods Trump, his allies and Republican politicians are circulating on social media. According to Raffensperger, the unfounded claims are "playing with people's emotions." He described the behavior as emotional abuse as he advised them all to "grow up and start acting with integrity."

"There's just people who are really angry and they're being spun up," Raffensperger said, adding, "It's really the spinners that should be ashamed for playing with people's emotions. Politicians of both sides should never play with people's emotions. It's one thing to motivate people, I get that. But to spin people up and play with their emotions, it's emotional abuse and they ought to grow up and start acting with integrity."

Raffensperger's remarks come as a recount takes place in the state of Georgia. Over the last two weeks, Trump has not only been responsible for circulating many of the baseless claims on social media but he has also attacked those who accurately say former Vice President Joe Biden won the election. In fact, he also attacked Raffensperger as he described him as a "Republican in name only (RINO)."

However, Raffensperger made it clear that his political affiliation has nothing to do with Trump's spread of misinformation or the outcome of the election. His role is to ensure that all legal votes are included in the official count.

"I'm a Republican, I'm a conservative one, and I don't like the idea that President Trump is not going to win," Raffensperger said. "But at the end of the day, I want every voter to know we're going to do our job and make sure every legal vote is counted."