Donald Trump could be prosecuted for election fraud after bid to 'find' 11,780 votes in Georgia – Angus Robertson

The United States has prided itself as a beacon of democracy, constitutionalism and freedom.

Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the US presidential election result in Georgia fell on deaf ears when he tried to persuade Republican politician Brad Raffensperger to help him (Picture: Niall Carson/PA)

That reputation is currently being shredded by Donald Trump, who has surpassed his own lowest-bar standard of hair-raising populism by seeking to subvert the presidential election result itself.

Weeks after losing the election, the outgoing president has been caught on tape telling the top election official in Georgia to “find” enough votes to overturn the result.

In a recording released by the Washington Post, Trump told Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger: “I just want to find 11,780 votes.”

That’s not how democracy works. That’s how despots and dictators cheat the electorate and steal elections.

Since losing the presidential election to Joe Biden by 306 electoral college votes to 232, Trump has been alleging widespread electoral fraud, without providing any evidence.

Since then he has lost some 80 court cases challenging results in different states. Now he has been caught red-handed in an act which will surely end up in court. The law seems pretty clear.

According to Georgia law, “A person commits the offense of criminal solicitation to commit election fraud in the first degree when, with intent that another person engage in conduct constituting a felony under this article, he or she solicits, requests, commands, importunes or otherwise attempts to cause the other person to engage in such conduct.”

US democracy is being subverted in slow motion. The world is watching the United States. Democracy and the rule of law must be victorious.

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