Recording of Trump calling Georgia election officials found in 'trash'

A recording of former US President Donald Trump urging a state investigator to look for voter fraud in certain countries was recently found in the “trash” of the officer’s computer.

Trump had urged Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger office’s lead investigator Frances Watson on December 23 to look for voter fraud in specific counties, reportedly telling her that she would receive praise after the “right answer” is out in public domain.

The existence of a recording was first reported by The Washington Post in January, following which The Wall Street Journal published the audio last week. During the emergence of the first report of a recording in January, state officials said no such recording existed.

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Officials told The Washington Post that the recording was located on the trash folder of Watson’s device and was found while responding to a request for public records.

In the November elections, Trump lost the state of Georgia by almost 12,000 votes but continued to claim that the vote was rigged, and that the election was stolen - without offering any evidence.

Trump asked Watson to check signatures on mail-in ballot envelopes and compare them to signatures from two years ago, especially in Fulton County.

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Trump allegedly intended to inflate the number of non-matching signatures in an area led by Democrats. In 2018, many ballots in Georgia and Florida were rejected when officials matched signatures and found that the signatures of the voters had evolved.

Watson reportedly told Trump that she was “honoured” but also “shocked” at him taking the time to do it. Trump’s supporters defend his actions by saying that the former president was simply attempting to check in on legitimate concerns of voter fraud - which have never been proven.