Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson said Saturday on CNN’s “Newsroom” that bribery charges against Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel were possible when reacting to reports that McDaniel participated in a phone call with former President Donald Trump attempting to get state election officials to not certify the 2020 presidential election results.
Benson said, “It really underscores the vast conspiracy, for lack of a better word, that was at play. A coordinated effort in all the battleground states to delay certification creates enough confusion about the validity of the election results. Because if you have people block or refuse certify, that gives you another reason or him another reason to say, see, there’s something wrong, even though there is no evidence that there was anything wrong, and create this false sense of doubt that was all about leading to this false slate of electors being presented to Congress on January 6th. Of course, we saw how that unfolded and the tragedy of that day.”
Host Jim Acosta said, “Secretary Benson, the other part of the phone call, and we don’t have the audio yet, I assume at some point it’s going to come out, and we’ll all listen for ourselves. What do you make of what’s been reported, that the RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel suggested that lawyers would be provided to these election workers on this phone call? What does that add up to?”
Benson said, “Well, it certainly suggests an offer of something of value, sort of paying for attorneys in order to not fail to do your public duty, which in this case was very clear. These local officials had a public legal duty, a ministerial responsibility to certify the election. So offering something to someone of value for them to fail to do their legal duty under the law would suggest, you know, potential bribery, potential criminality. Of course, it all depends on whether this recording is ultimately accessed by prosecutors, and whether it becomes part of the investigations that are already ongoing in criminal proceedings at the state and federal level.”
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