Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said he will not comply with an expected subpoena from the “partisan sideshow” known as the House Jan. 6 commission.
Raffensperger told Just the News he expected to be subpoenaed by the commission as early as Friday. However, the secretary said he will refuse to comply because his office has no interest in “participating in a partisan sideshow solely for the purpose of providing sound bites about an event we have no connection to.”
“I’m focused on secure and accessible elections — not relitigating the past, whether Jan. 6, the 2018 election, or the 2020 election,” Raffensperger said in a statement to Just the News on Thursday night.
Officials in Raffensperger’s office have been in contact with commission members and told them the secretary was not interested in testifying.
Members on Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s partisan panel are believed to be interested in post-election conversations in which former President Donald Trump pressed Georgia election officials to investigate possible voter fraud in the state.
A congressional aide told Just the News that lawmakers have an interest in testimony from Raffensperger and his Director of Investigations, Frances Watson.
Raffensperger said transcripts of the conversations already have been released and showed no relevance to Jan. 6 events.
Trump has been highly critical of Raffensperger, taking issue with the secretary’s lack of support over fraud claims in the 2020 election.
The former president has endorsed Rep. Jody Hice, R-Ga., in his primary challenge to Raffensperger, who is up for reelection next year.
“Unlike the current Georgia Secretary of State, Jody leads out front with integrity. I have 100% confidence in Jody to fight for Free, Fair, and Secure Elections in Georgia, in line with our beloved U.S. Constitution. Jody will stop the Fraud and get honesty into our Elections!” Trump said in March, the Washington Examiner reported.
On Friday, Trump asked Raffensperger’s office to investigate a report of “43,000 Absentee Ballot Votes Counted in DeKalb County” that he claimed “violated the Chain of Custody rules, making them invalid,” according to a letter reviewed by the Examiner.
Trump’s letter said if the secretary verified the report’s claims, then Raffensperger should “start the process of decertifying the Election, or whatever the correct legal remedy is, and announce the true winner.”
President Joe Biden defeated Trump in Georgia by 11,779 votes, making the former president the first Republican presidential nominee to lose the Peach State since 1992.
