We know it’s only a matter of time before some of Donald Trump’s allies twist themselves into a pretzel to try to substantiate his inappropriate phone call with Brad Raffensperger, the Georgia Secretary of State (listen above via Washington Post). There are some people though on both sides of the aisle slamming the phone call and raising questions about whether the president of the United States committed election-related crimes with his requests/threats/demands. MSNBC cites this statement from Biden Senior Advisor Bob Bauer:

“We now have irrefutable proof of a president pressuring and threatening an official of his own party to get him to rescind a state’s lawful, certified vote count and fabricate another in its place.”

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) wrote, “Trump’s contempt for democracy is laid bare. Once again. On tape. Pressuring an election official to “find” the votes so he can win is potentially criminal, And another flagrant abuse of power by a corrupt man who would be a despot, if we allowed him. We will not.”

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, the most outspoken Republican member of Congress against the president’s effort to overturn the election reacted to the call by writing, “This is absolutely appalling. To every member of Congress considering objecting to the election results, you cannot- in light of this- do so with a clean conscience.”

Former Speaker of the House Paul Ryan released this statement shortly after the Washington Post released the phone call:

“Efforts to reject the votes of the Electoral College and sow doubt about Joe Biden’s victory strike at the foundation of our republic. It is difficult to conceive of a more anti-democratic and anti-conservative act than a federal intervention to overturn the results of state-certified elections and disenfranchise millions of Americans.”

There are also now questions about whether the release of this call will impact the Georgia runoff this Tuesday. Trump is set to appear in the state tomorrow to rally for the Republican candidates.