Officials in the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office located a recently released recording of former President Donald Trump’s call to a state investigator in a trash folder on her device, a state official familiar with the situation confirmed to CNN.
The discovery of the call comes after state officials originally told CNN that they did not think audio of the call existed. The call added to the examples of Trump’s extraordinary efforts to push false claims of widespread voter fraud and influence Georgia election officials as they certified the state’s election results.
The audio file of the December 23 call between the former President and investigator Frances Watson was discovered as the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office responded to a public records request. The personal familiar spoke with CNN on the condition of anonymity to describe the internal process.
The Washington Post first reported the details of how the audio of the December phone call emerged.
Watson declined comment to CNN through the Georgia Secretary of State’s press secretary.
CNN previously reported that in the December phone call to the Georgia Secretary of State’s Office, Trump urged their top investigator, Watson, to find fraud in the 2020 presidential election, telling her that she would be a “praised” for overturning results in favor of President Joe Biden.