Brad Raffensperger, Georgia’s Republican secretary of state who went toe-to-toe with President Donald Trump over stolen election claims just days before the U.S. Capitol riot, is slated to testify Tuesday before the House Jan. 6 committee.
The committee will use testimony by Mr. Raffensperger and other elections officials to build the case that Mr. Trump continued his pressure campaign to overturn the election, despite knowing that it could potentially spark violence against state and local officials, a committee aide told reporters.
“We will show courageous state officials who stood up and said they wouldn’t go along with this plan to either call legislatures back into session or decertify the results for Joe Biden,” Rep. Adam B. Schiff, California Democrat and member of the committee, told CNN on Sunday.
Also on the witness list for Tuesday are Mr. Raffensperger’s chief operating officer, Gabriel Sterling, former Georgia election worker Wandrea “Shaye” Moss and Arizona state House Speaker Rusty Bowers, a Republican.
Mr. Raffensperger was in the national spotlight days before the Capitol attack when, in a phone call, he rebuffed Mr. Trump’s request to “find 11,780 votes” for him. A recording of the Jan. 2, 2021, phone call was obtained the following day by The Washington Post.
Georgia’s election officials had certified President Biden’s win in the state by an 11,779 margin after counting the votes three times.
Mr. Raffensperger appeared recently before a special grand jury investigating whether Mr. Trump tried to illegally meddle in Georgia’s 2020 election.
Tuesday’s hearing marks the fourth in a series of public appearances which the panel kicked off this month to unpack the findings from a nearly yearlong investigation.
Republicans, who nearly unanimously oppose the committee, accuse Democrats of staging the hearing to smear Mr. Trump and the GOP and as a distraction from the party’s failure to address inflation and other issues that matter most to voters.
Mr. Trump has said the committee is a “kangaroo court.” He said the sole aim of the committee is to bar him from running in the 2024 presidential election.
On Friday, Mr. Trump called the committee members “con artists” at a conference hosted by the Faith and Freedom Coalition.
“There’s no clearer example of the menacing spirit that has devoured the American left than the disgraceful performance being staged by the unselect committee,” Mr. Trump said.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Joseph Clark can be reached at jclark@washingtontimes.com.
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