Trump was recorded pressuring two Michigan GOP canvassers not to certify 2020 election results, report says

Former President Donald Trump pressured two Republican canvassers in Michigan not to certify the 2020 presidential election results in a phone call days after the election, The Detroit News reported, citing recordings of the call that it had reviewed.

“We’ve got to fight for our country,” Trump told the two members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers, Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, shortly after the board had met about certifying the results, the report said. “We can’t let these people take our country away from us.”

Trump also said the two Republicans would look “terrible” if they certified the county results after first opposing them, the outlet reported.

The Detroit News said the recordings were made by a person who was present for the Nov. 17, 2020, phone call, but they were obtained by an intermediary who was not on the call and shared them with the outlet.

NBC News has not heard or verified the audio recordings.

According to the report, Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel, who is from Michigan, was on the call and told the canvassers: “If you can go home tonight, do not sign it. ... We will get you attorneys.”

“We’ll take care of that,” Trump added, according to The Detroit News.

In statements to NBC, spokespeople for Trump and the RNC did not dispute the recordings. The Detroit News said Palmer also did not dispute the recordings.

“All of President Trump’s 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,” Steven Cheung, a spokesman for Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, said in a statement to NBC News. “President Trump and the American people have the Constitutional right to free and fair elections. Crooked Joe Biden and the Democrats are spinning their wheels in the face of devastating polling numbers and desperately leaking misleading information to interfere in the election.”

Emma Vaughn, a spokesperson for the RNC, pointed NBC to the statement provided to The Detroit News that said the party chair supported an audit of the 2020 election in Michigan: “What I said publicly and repeatedly at the time, as referenced in my letter on Nov. 21, 2020, is that there was ample evidence that warranted an audit,” McDaniel said, according to the outlet.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSU.S. military prepares new Iran war options ahead of midterm elections

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCompromise of secret intel informant triggered probe of CIA officer, sources say

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTexas Latino leaders clash with national Democrats in a meeting over gubernatorial race

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Still in this very long day that started on Oct. 7th’

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAnimal rescues in Cuba struggle to care for abandoned pets amid deepening economic crisis

FOR SUBSCRIBERSLocals called their town ‘Almost Heaven’. A plan to open a Buc-ee’s exposed its underbelly.

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump keeps touting $21 trillion coming into the U.S. Even his website says it’s half that.

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA Siberian town and the world remain in the dark after a lab worker dies of suspected plague

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongress launches investigation into youth sports giant AAU’s handling of sexual abuse

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Time makes you more hungry’: Hostage’s mom on grief 3 years after Oct. 7 attack

FOR SUBSCRIBERSExperimental vaccine shows promise against deadly brain cancer in some patients

FOR SUBSCRIBERSMeta’s Oversight Board has a warning for AI companies building their own watchdogs

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOutrage, backlash and inaction: Why can’t America stop rape on college campuses?

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrance shuts down nearly 900 schools as violent student protests escalate

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis voting bloc holds the key to the midterms

Slide 1 of 1

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSU.S. military prepares new Iran war options ahead of midterm elections

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCompromise of secret intel informant triggered probe of CIA officer, sources say

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTexas Latino leaders clash with national Democrats in a meeting over gubernatorial race

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Still in this very long day that started on Oct. 7th’

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAnimal rescues in Cuba struggle to care for abandoned pets amid deepening economic crisis

FOR SUBSCRIBERSLocals called their town ‘Almost Heaven’. A plan to open a Buc-ee’s exposed its underbelly.

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump keeps touting $21 trillion coming into the U.S. Even his website says it’s half that.

FOR SUBSCRIBERSA Siberian town and the world remain in the dark after a lab worker dies of suspected plague

FOR SUBSCRIBERSCongress launches investigation into youth sports giant AAU’s handling of sexual abuse

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Time makes you more hungry’: Hostage’s mom on grief 3 years after Oct. 7 attack

FOR SUBSCRIBERSExperimental vaccine shows promise against deadly brain cancer in some patients

FOR SUBSCRIBERSMeta’s Oversight Board has a warning for AI companies building their own watchdogs

FOR SUBSCRIBERSOutrage, backlash and inaction: Why can’t America stop rape on college campuses?

FOR SUBSCRIBERSFrance shuts down nearly 900 schools as violent student protests escalate

FOR SUBSCRIBERSThis voting bloc holds the key to the midterms

Slide 1 of 1

NBC News also reached out to lawyers for Trump, the Wayne County Board of Canvassers and Palmer. Hartmann died in December 2021 after being hospitalized with Covid-19 and pneumonia, according to The New York Times.

In response to The Detroit News’ story, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson wrote in a lengthy post on X on Thursday night that the “lowest moment in the post election battle” in 2020 was the night of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers meeting. She said her office knew about the pressure on Republicans not to certify the results, but she was unaware of the audio recordings of the phone call with Trump.

Benson wrote that they were prepared to go to court to ensure certification at the state and local levels.

“Well, then something I’ll never forget happened,” she wrote. “Hundreds — hundreds (!) — of citizens showed up to the meeting of the Wayne County Canvassing Board to remind them of their duty under the law to ensure their votes counted. Their voices mattered. Their votes mattered.”

“In my view that turned the tide. Citizens and election officials in Wayne County and statewide didn’t flinch, stood firm, and demanded their votes be certified as required under the law,” she continued. “And in the end, the Wayne County Canvassing board fulfilled their legal duty, followed the law and certified the election.”

The former president was charged by special counsel Jack Smith with conspiring to fraudulently overturn the 2020 election results, which led to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Part of the indictment filed in early August focused on the scheme by Trump and his allies to use “fake electors” to reverse the election results in Trump’s favor.

CLARIFICATION: (Dec. 22, 2023, 3:56 p.m. ET): Language in this story was updated to more accurately reflect The Detroit News’ characterization of its reporting on the recordings.