Secretary of State says ‘we were vindicated’ as part of final report in election probe is released

As parts of a special purpose grand jury report were released Thursday in the investigation looking into possible tampering in the 2020 election, Georgia’s secretary of state spoke exclusively with Channel 2 Action News.

Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger indicated to Channel 2 investigative reporter Mark Winne that in his testimony to the grand jury, he was asked about the now-famous recorded phone call between him and now-former President Donald Trump and that he was also asked about a wide array of issues concerning the mechanics of the election.

“We were vindicated. We’ve been shown that we’ve been factually correct from day one,” Raffensperger said.

Raffensperger said the report doesn’t vindicate everyone, but it vindicates the work of his office as he’s reported it all along.

[TIMELINE: Fulton County grand jury investigation into potential interference in Georgia elections]

“We have been saying since day one that Georgia has honest and fair elections,” Raffensperger said.

He said the portions of a special purpose Fulton County grand jury report concerning its investigation into possible criminal interference in the 2020 general election in Georgia underscores what he has been saying for more than two years, when the report said, “We find by a unanimous vote that no widespread fraud took place in the Georgia 2020 presidential election that could result in overturning that election.

“By unanimous vote and that grand jury represented from all across the political spectrum, and so that is very heartwarming, we feel that there’s every question that people had that should really put that to rest now,” Raffensperger said.

The secretary told Winne that a key function of his office is to investigate allegations of fraud in elections and his investigators ran down hundreds of claims concerning the 2020 election.

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“Every single allegation that was made after 2020, we checked it out. One of the first ones we heard was that there were thousands of dead people that voted. We found two. And since that time, we found two more, but we wanted to verify that there wasn’t 10,315 dead people that was alleged in one case. They said there was 66,000 underage voters. There’s actually zero,” Raffensperger said.

The secretary said he testified before the grand jury as a witness -- not target -- and told the truth.

“What did you think of the grand jurors?” Winne asked Raffensperger.

“I think the process was very professional,” Raffensperger said.

Other witnesses may face trouble. In the portions of the special purpose grand jury’s final report attached to an order by Fulton County Judge Robert McBurney was this: “A majority of the Grand Jury believes that perjury may have been committed by one or more witnesses testifying before it. The Grand jury recommends that the District Attorney seek appropriate indictments for such crimes where the evidence is compelling.

“Will you and your staff continue to cooperate with the Fulton County District Attorney?” Winne asked Raffensperger.

“We always follow the law, we follow the constitution and if we’re compelled to testify, then we will, you know, show up if we’re subpoenaed. It’s something that we believe. It’s an obligation of everyone to speak truthfully to the matter,” Raffensperger said.

“Do you think you’ve been making progress in changing the narrative that was out there? A narrative you suggest was false?” Winne asked Raffensperger.

“Yes. Because you have to understand in Georgia most people are good, and some people may have wanted to believe it just because they were really, you know, were rooting for my side, the Republican side, and they were disappointed. But when you give people the facts, you can just see that their goodness shines through,” Raffensperger said. “We leaned into the constitution. We leaned into the rule of law, and I just did my job.”

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