The New York Times released a recording of a 2020 phone call between President Donald Trump and then-speaker of the Georgia House David Ralston Thursday morning.
During the call, Trump asks Ralston to call a special legislative session to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“All we need is either of the two, frankly, but the better is the special session. Because if you agree with us, you can vote the state as a victory for us,” he says in the phone call.
In the 12-minute long call, Trump bashes Gov. Brian Kemp, saying he refuses to call the special session. Only the governor or three-fifths of the legislature can convene a special session.
Ultimately, Kemp never called the special session.
Emory University political science Andra Gillespie says while the phone call isn’t likely to have any immediate political implications, it does indicate Trump pressured Georgia officials in 2020.
“I think when people have some distance from it, they’re going to look at evidence like this phone call to come out and actually provide an accurate record of what happened,” she said.
A Georgia legal case accusing Trump and 18 others of conspiring to overturn the results of the election was dropped in November. Ralston spoke about the phone call to the special grand jury that indicted Trump, but the phone call was not released until now.
In the call, Ralston appeared sympathetic to Trump, but never publicly endorsed the idea of a special session.
“I marched to my own drummer and my own drummer says, I want Donald Trump to remain the president. If there’s any way that we can possibly help in that regard, I’m on board,” he said.
Ralston died in 2022.
This story comes to The Current GA through a reporting partnership with GPB News, a non-profit newsroom covering the state of Georgia.