CNN's Jim Acosta slams Georgia GOP chair over Trump's voter fraud claims: “You're just lying”
Acosta: “Your party's own secretary of state said that that was not the case, and that it was a free and fair election and that it was secure. I'm just saying, Josh, what you're saying is horsecrap.”
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From the October 24, 2024, edition of CNN's CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta
JIM ACOSTA (CNN ANCHOR): Joining me now is the chairman of Georgia's Republican Party, Josh McKoon. Josh, thank you so much for joining us. We appreciate it. You have praised your party's takeover of the state election board. They've recently tried to enforce new controversial rules that would require county officials to conduct a, quote, reasonable inquiry into election results before certifying them. The state supreme court, as you know, has stopped that from happening, but there are still some in your party who claim the 2020 election was stolen, people like Marjorie Taylor Greene. Do you believe that to be the case? Was the 2020 election stolen?
JOSH MCKOON (GEORGIA REPUBLICAN PARTY CHAIR): Look, there were tremendous irregularities in the 2020 election. Joe Biden won paper absentee ballots that were put in drop boxes by 395,000, Jim. That's one of the reasons the legislature passed Senate Bill 202, that made absentee voting in the state much more secure. At this time, four years ago, we had 1.4 million paper absentee ballots had been requested as opposed to 300,000 in this election, which is pretty similar to what we saw in 2022. Again, record turnout, as your earlier guest noted, lots of people voting early, but a lot fewer people voting —
ACOSTA: But, Josh, I can't — yeah, I can't let you go on too long because you're saying there are voting irregularities. The Republican Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, said that the election in 2020 was fair and square and that Joe Biden won. You dispute that still? Do you personally dispute that?
...
ACOSTA: Here's how former President Donald Trump dealt with the aftermath of the 2020 election. Here is some sound of him speaking with Brad Raffensperger, the Republican secretary of state, in the days after the 2020 election.
[CLIP BEGINS]
DONALD TRUMP: All I wanna do is this. I just wanna find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state.
[CLIP ENDS]
ACOSTA: Josh, wasn't it in fact the former president who was trying to pull a fast one in that election?
MCKOON: Absolutely not. What he was talking about in that call were allegations that were made about people that were allowed to vote that should not have been allowed to vote under Georgia law. And again, you know, I'm here to talk about —
ACOSTA: No, no, no. Josh, that's not what happened there.
MCKOON: — about the 2020 election. I think —
ACOSTA: He said in that soundbite there, Josh, he said he wanted one more vote than what he needed.
...
ACOSTA: Let's play it one more time just in case — maybe, maybe the Zoom, maybe the Zoom, maybe the Zoom is off or something.
[CROSSTALK]
ACOSTA: If we can, control room, let's play the sound one more time.
...
MCKOON: Look, I think this is a much more secure election than 2020. We don't have ballot drop boxes scattered randomly all over the state. We don't have election officials —
ACOSTA: But Josh, you're making suggestions — you're making suggestions that there was some kind of tomfoolery and shenanigans going on last time around. Your party's own secretary of state said that that was not the case, and that it was a free and fair election and that it was secure. I'm just saying, Josh, what you're saying is horsecrap.
...
MCKOON: It's important for your viewers to understand that you're interested in constantly pushing a dishonest narrative and using people as a foil for that dishonest narrative.
ACOSTA: What is the dishonest narrative? What is the dishonest narrative? The election was secure last time around, Josh. You're just lying. You're just lying.