“We’ve got to fight for our country,” Trump told the two members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, shortly after the board had met about certifying the results, the report said. “We can’t let these people take our country away from us.”
Trump also said the two Republicans would look “terrible” if they certified the county results after first opposing them, the outlet reported.
The Detroit News said the recordings were made by a person who was present for the Nov. 17, 2020 phone call, but they were obtained by an intermediary who was not on the call and shared them with the outlet.
According to the report, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who is from Michigan, was on the call and told the canvassers: “If you can go home tonight, do not sign it. … We will get you attorneys.”
In statements to NBC, spokespeople for Trump and the RNC did not dispute the recordings. The Detroit News said Palmer also did not dispute the recordings.
“All of President Trump’s actions were taken in furtherance of his duty as President of the United States to faithfully take care of the laws and ensure election integrity, including investigating the rigged and stolen 2020 Presidential Election,: Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, said in a statement to NBC News.
“President Trump and the American people have the Constitutional right to free and fair elections.
Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrats are spinning their wheels in the face of devastating polling numbers and desperately leaking misleading information to interfere in the election.”
Emma Vaughn, a spokesperson for the RNC, pointed NBC to the statement provided to The Detroit News that said the party chair supported an audit of the 2020 election in Michigan: “What I said publicly and repeatedly at the time, as referenced in my letter on Nov. 21, 2020, is that there was ample evidence that warranted an audit,” McDaniel said, according to the outlet.
NBC News also reached out to lawyers for Trump, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers and Palmer. Hartmann died in Dec. 2021 after being hospitalized with Covid and pneumonia, according to The New York Times.
In response to The Detroit News’ story, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson wrote in a lengthy post on X on Thursday night that the “lowest moment in the post election battle” in 2020 was the night of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers meeting.
She said her office knew about the pressure on Republicans not to certify the results, but she was unaware of the audio recordings of the phone call with Trump.
Benson wrote that they were prepared to go to court to ensure certification at the state and local levels.
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