Arizona’s Republican Gov. Doug Ducey CONFIRMS he ignored Trump’s phone call during a press conference to certify the state’s vote for Joe Biden
- Arizona Gov Doug Ducey confirmed Wednesday that he ignored Trump’s call
- Video showed him receiving a call while trying to certify state’s vote for Biden during a press conference on Monday
- On Wednesday, Ducey said he knew the call was from the White House
- However, it wasn’t until he called back that he figured out it was Trump calling
- Trump on Monday lashed out at Ducey for ‘rushing to put a Democrat in office’
- Giuliani said thousands of illegal immigrants voted in Arizona without evidence
Arizona Gov Doug Ducey has confirmed that the person calling him on Monday as he certified the state’s vote for Joe Biden was indeed President Donald Trump calling him from the White House.
During an interview on Wednesday, Ducey told reporters: ‘So it was the White House calling during the election results.’
Ducey then explained that the call came from the White House through a switchboard so he didn’t actually know who it was at the time.
‘So I was at a public ceremony doing an official act so regardless of who was calling I was not going to answer the phone at that moment. But immediately after the event I called back to the White House and it was the president,’ Ducey said.
Ducey didn’t say what he and the president discussed during their call later that day.
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Arizona Gov Doug Ducey has confirmed that the person calling him on Monday as he certified the state’s vote for Joe Biden was indeed President Donald Trump calling him from the White House
‘I keep my conversations with the president in confidence and I’m going to continue to keep that policy,’ Ducey said.
When asked if Trump asked him to not certify the election, Ducey responded: ‘No.’
Shortly after video showed the governor pull the phone from his pocket and hit ignore as he was preparing to certify the state’s vote, Trump lashed out at him for ‘rushing to put a Democrat in office’.
Trump retweeted the Ducey video and wrote in the caption: ‘Why is he rushing to put a Democrat in office, especially when so many horrible things concerning voter fraud are being revealed at the hearing going on right now.
‘@OANN What is going on with @dougducey? Republicans will long remember!’
Trump then retweeted a claim that Ducey had ‘betrayed the people of Arizona,’ and commented: ‘TRUE!’
He also shared a post that asked: ‘Who needs Democrats when you have Republicans like (Georgia Gov) Brian Kemp and Doug Ducey?’
Earlier on Monday, Trump dialed into an Arizona ‘hearing’ on election fraud that went on for more than eight hours, claiming the election was ‘rigged’ and bashing Ducey for certifying the state’s vote for Biden.
‘The 2020 election was rigged it was a scam and the whole world is watching and they’re laughing at our country,’ Trump said, phoning into the hearing-style event after 7pm.
‘We got 74 million [votes] and we didn’t win. But I know that we won Arizona and we won Michigan and we won Georgia and we won Pennsylvania and we won Wisconsin. But what they did is they played games,’ he said.
Just a few seconds into the press conference, Ducey (left) was seen pulling a cellphone from his coat pocket. He then ignored the call which was coming from Trump
‘Why is he rushing to put a Democrat in office, especially when so many horrible things concerning voter fraud are being revealed at the hearing going on right now,’ the president wrote in the caption of a video of Ducey during the press conference
Trump then retweeted a claim that Ducey had ‘betrayed the people of Arizona,’ and commented: ‘TRUE’
‘This is the greatest scam ever perpetrated on our country,’ said Trump. He called it ‘the big one’ after ‘Russia Russia Russia’ and what he called the ‘phony impeachment’.
He attacked Ducey for certifying the vote – which also sent Democratic Sen Mark Kelly to Washington after his defeat of Sen Martha McSally.
‘We’re going to win this thing. We’re not giving up ever,’ Trump said. ‘He just rushed to sign certificates so that Kelly gets into the senate as soon as possible. What’s that all about?’ Trump said.
‘Why would you sign when you have these incredible hearings going on that show such corruption and such incredible fraud,’ he said.
Arizona secretary of state State Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, provided the certification, which got the sign-off of Ducey.
All of the state’s 11 electoral votes will go Biden, who secured 306 electoral votes to President Trump’s 232.