Appearing on MSNBC’ on Sunday, Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) reacted to audio released from a one-hour phone call in which President Donald Trump asked Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes.”
Host Alex Witt said to Kaine after playing the recording, “What is your reaction to that audio? Does it raise legal questions?”
Trump is trying to overthrow our democracy. To my colleagues tempted to go along: Don’t let your ambition/fear dwarf your integrity!
Joe Biden will be sworn in as President on 1/20/21.
— Tim Kaine (@timkaine) January 4, 2021
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Kaine On Trump: ‘He Is A Spoiled Rich Kid’
Kaine replied, “It does. It is shocking but not surprising from this man. This quote, ‘I just want to find 11,780 votes, ‘ tells you everything you need to know about him.”
“He is a spoiled rich kid,” Kaine said. “He is making it all about him. He is talking about our democracy like it is a real estate deal. Give me $11,000 more for this piece of property.”
In the audio, President Trump can be heard saying, “The people of Georgia are angry. The people of the country are angry. And there is wrong with saying that you recalculated.”
“All I want to do is this: I just want to find 11,780 votes, one more than we have because we won the state,” Trump can be heard saying.
@timkaine correctly describes the Congressional GOP effort to subvert the election result with the textbook definition of treason: an attempt to overthrow the US government. https://t.co/7cSiHbko50
— Ronald Brownstein (@RonBrownstein) January 3, 2021
Kaine Says Trump Making ‘Effort To Overthrow The Government Of The United States’
Witt said to Kaine during their MSNBC segment, “Senator, it is so specific what he is asking the Georgia secretary of state. Another description that I did read in a headline from The Washington Post is that Trump begs and berates him to overturn President-elect Joe Biden’s win in Georgia.”
Witt added, “It is stunning, but how disturbing is this for the campaign being wages in democracy.”
That’s when Kaine said the President was making an “effort” to overthrow the U.S. government.
Kaine told Witt, “This is fundamentally an effort to overthrow the government of the United States. That is what he is attempting to do.”
“He understands that he lost,” Kaine finished, adding “That is what this call show because he knows I got to find 11,780 votes.”
Kaine also accused the Republicans in Congress who have vowed to challenge the election results with also wanting to overthrow the government.
Sen. Kaine tweeted Sunday, “To Senators attempting to overturn state electoral results in states that voted for Biden/Harris: Your challenge is dangerous—you are attempting to overthrow the government of the United States.”
To Senators attempting to overturn state electoral results in states that voted for Biden/Harris:
— Tim Kaine (@timkaine) January 3, 2021
Your challenge is dangerous—you are attempting to overthrow the government of the United States.
— Tim Kaine (@timkaine) January 3, 2021
Tim Kaine was Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential running mate in the 2016 presidential election.