Donald Trump's Five Words on Phone Call That Could Doom Him

Donald Trump has been accused of trying to pressure canvassers in Michigan not to certify the 2020 election results, as well as offering to pay for their legal fees if they supported his false voter fraud claims.

According to recordings of a phone call, obtained by The Detroit News, the former president tried to convince two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, not to certify the election results in favor of Joe Biden, who won the state in 2020.

Trump is alleged to have told Palmer and Hartmann in a phone call, which also involved Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, that the pair would look "terrible" if they signed documents certifying the election after initially voting against it in November 2020.

"We've got to fight for our country," Trump added. "We can't let these people take our country away from us." McDaniel later said in the call "If you can go home tonight, do not sign it...We will get you attorneys," to which Trump added: "We'll take care of that."

Trump's five word response to McDaniel's suggestion that Palmer and Hartmann could be supplied with attorneys has led to accusations that the offer amounted to a bribe so the officials could carry out a corrupt act.

The claims are the latest example of the former president facing potential legal peril due to his alleged criminal attempt to overturn the 2020 election results. Trump has already pleaded not guilty to four federal conspiracy and obstruction charges as part of Special Counsel Jack Smith's election investigation, as well as all charges he faces after being indicted in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' Georgia election interference probe.

Under Michigan state law, bribery of a public officer amounts to an "offer or promise to any public officer" which could be any "gift, gratuity, money, property or other valuable thing, the intent or purpose of which is to influence the act, vote, opinion, decision or judgment" of such public officer.

Reacting to The Detroit News report, Georgia State University College of Law professor Anthony Michael Kreis said Trump may be "facing a fifth set of charges" in Michigan over his phone call to the canvassers.

"The real issue is whether providing a lawyer is a 'valuable thing,'" Kreis posted in X, formerly Twitter. "On the one hand, it isn't the kind of thing that we typically would consider as being offered as a bribe. On the other hand, it is a materially valuable thing offered in exchange for a corrupt official act."

Trump's office has been contacted for comment via email.

Joe Gallina, an attorney and affiliate of pro-Democratic campaign group Call to Activism, said Trump's phone call was another example of the former president's illegal attempt to overturn the election results.

"Here we have a defendant, a criminal defendant, Donald Trump in his Washington [election interference] case and another example of him breaking the law on the telephone call in Michigan with these canvassers," Gallina said in a video posted to X.

"This is going to provide a new layer for the jury, it's going to provide another opportunity for the state to show the lengths Donald Trump went to overturn the election."

In a statement to Detroit News, Trump spokesperson Steve Cheung denied the former president committed any wrongdoing with his phone call and said that his actions were "taken in furtherance of his duty as president of the United States to faithfully take care of the laws and ensure election integrity, including investigating the rigged and stolen 2020 presidential election."

"President Trump and the American people have the constitutional right to free and fair elections," Cheung said.

Palmer and Hartmann didn't sign the official statement of votes for Wayne County on November 17, 2020, and then unsuccessfully tried to rescind their votes in favor of certification the following day after filing legal affidavits claiming they were pressured.

McDaniel didn't dispute the facts of the call when approached for comment by the Detroit News. "What I said publicly and repeatedly at the time, as referenced in my letter on November 21, 2020, is that there was ample evidence that warranted an audit."

Palmer said that she couldn't remember the precise details of the call. Hartmann died in November 2021, aged 63, soon after being hospitalized with COVID-19.