Trump’s 'loophole' defense over Georgia election phone call 'isn't how reality works': analyst

Trump’s 'loophole' defense over Georgia election phone call 'isn't how reality works': analyst
Donald Trump at a rally in October 2020 (Gage Skidmore)
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With a Fulton County grand jury still poring over evidence and hearing testimony about Donald Trump's attempts to tamper with the results of the 2020 presidential election, the former president has taken to his Truth Social platform to suggest he did nothing wrong by pitching a sketchy defense strategy.

Falling back on his repeated insistence it was a "perfect" phone call that he also put to use when he was accused of trying to blackmail Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy which, in turn, led to his first impeachment, now Trump is claiming Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger made no admonishments during the recorded phone call so he is in the clear.

According to the former president late Sunday night, "Just like New York, the Racist District Attorney in Atlanta, who presides over one of the most deadly and violent jurisdictions in the U.S. (and does nothing about it!), is having an impossible time showing that my ‘PERFECT’ phone call was bad, when none of the many lawyers on the call interjected that I was saying something wrong or improper — Not even a word of admonishment. They never hung up or said ‘how dare you.’ That’s because, as everyone knows, there was nothing wrong with the call!"

According to MSNBC political analyst Steve Benen, Trump's belief that he has found a loophole will be swiftly shot down.

"As amazing as this might seem, Trump seems convinced that this line is the key to his entire defense: He called officials in Georgia; they didn’t seem upset; so the call must’ve been fine," Bene wrote before adding that Trump has floated it before which led the MSNBC analyst to comment, "I continue to find this hilarious because it’s so terribly odd."

Benen proceeded to point out that Trump's belief that a lack of pushback is evidence of innocence is nonsense.

"This isn’t how reality works. Raffensperger was speaking at the time to the sitting president of the United States. Maybe the Georgia Republican stayed on the line as a courtesy. Maybe he waited to see if Trump would apologize. Maybe he was stunned by the scandalous lobbying effort," he suggested.

The analyst went on to say that Trump's lawyers would not be doing their jobs if they didn't point out the obvious flaws in the possible legal defense.

He then added, "If the best the Republican can come up with to defend his conduct is that no one yelled at him over the phone, he’s in a world of trouble."

You can read more here.

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