WAYNE COUNTY (WWJ) - Former President Donald Trump is facing new heat after it was revealed in recordings obtained by The Detroit News that he pressured two Republican members of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers not to sign the certification of the 2020 presidential election.
As first reviewed and reported by The Detroit News, the recordings center around a Nov. 17 2020 phone call between then-President Trump and Monica Palmer and William Hartmann, the two GOP Wayne County canvassers.
The recordings were made by someone present for the call with both county canvassers, the News said, and occurred within 30 minutes of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers meeting being over.
In the call -- which also included involved Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel -- Trump told Palmer and Hartmann that they would look "terrible" if they signed the documents after they initially voted in against it and then later in the same meeting voted to approve certification of the county’s election results.
"We've got to fight for our country," Trump said on the recordings. "We can't let these people take our country away from us."
At one point during the phone call, McDaniel told Palmer and Hartmann not to sign the documents and that they will find them attorneys.
Trump then said, "We'll take care of that."
According to the News, the two canvassers left the meeting without signing the official statement of votes for the county. The next day, Palmer and Hartmann tried to take back their votes in favor of the certification, but failed.
The duo then filed legal affidavits where they alleged that they were pressured.
As outlined by the News, if Trump, McDaniel, Palmer and Hartmann were successful in their efforts, it would've discredited Michigan's entire statewide certification of the 2020 election.
When the News reached out for comment from Palmer and McDaniel, a spokeswoman did not deny a summary of the call.
In an 2020 statement, Palmer publicly acknowledged that Trump called her out of a "genuine concern for my safety," and summed up Trump's conversation as a, "Thank you for your service. I’m glad you're safe. Have a good night."
Trump’s campaign did not reply to the News' request for comment. Hartmann died in 2021.
Jonathan Kinloch, who served as a Democratic member of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers in November 2020, expressed shock over the incident, calling the conversation between Trump, McDaniel, Palmer and Hartmann "insane."
“It’s just shocking that the president of the United States was at the most minute level trying to stop the election process from happening," Kinloch said.
In recordings reviewed by the News, Trump said in a longer conversation that Republicans were "cheated on this election" and "everybody knows Detroit is crooked as hell."
The latest development comes as the former President faces four criminal counts related to accusations that he sought to defraud American democracy by trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
The case, which centers on the certification of winning votes for Biden in Michigan, is one of four separate criminal cases Trump is facing.