Donald Trump personally leaned on two election officials in Michigan in an attempt to get them not to certify the local results of the 2020 presidential election, according to audio of the conversation obtained by The Detroit News. The newspaper reported Thursday that on a Nov. 17, 2020 phone call, the then-president told the pair of officials, both Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, that they would look “terrible” if they certified the results. “We’ve got to fight for our country,” Trump reportedly said. “We can't let these people take our country away from us.” He also reportedly promised the officials, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, that his team would “take care” of them. After the call, Palmer and Hartmann unsuccessfully attempted to rescind their votes for certification, according to the News. Though Hartmann died in 2021, Palmer did not dispute a summary of the call when contacted by the newspaper. Trump’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
