Washington, D.C. –Today, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) issued the following statement in response to President Donald Trump's phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger urging him to “find” votes to overturn his defeat:

“President Trump lost the 2020 presidential election.  Either he is unwell, and really believes he won in Georgia despite all evidence to the contrary, or he knows better, and thinks he can use his office to pressure state officials to change the outcome of the election.  Either way, he remains profoundly unfit for office.  In threatening these officials with vague ‘criminal’ consequences, and in encouraging them to ‘find’ additional votes and hire investigators who ‘want to find answers,’ the President may have also subjected himself to additional criminal liability.

“The burden now falls to men and women of good conscience to contain the damage Donald Trump seems intent on causing on his way out the door.  His bad faith lawsuits, his conspiracy theories, and his outright lies are destined to fail—indeed, have mostly failed already—but are no less dangerous to our country because of it.  The American people will draw a straight line from President Trump’s phone call, where he implores a state official to ‘find’ the 11,780 votes he needs to overcome his margin of defeat in Georgia, to the efforts of certain members of the House and Senate to block President-Elect Biden’s victory when the Electoral College results are certified.  Both tactics are reckless, deeply selfish, and place love of power over commitment to our democratic process.”