Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., fired back at Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger after Raffensperger demanded that he apologize for provoking “death threats” against him and his family.
Perdue has been vocally critical of Raffensperger’s handling of Georgia’s presidential election, calling on him to resign several times. Raffesnperger responded by demanding an apology and challenging Perdue to settle their disagreements “face to face, man to man.”
“Perdue still owes my wife an apology for all the death threats she’s got after he asked for my resignation,” Raffensperger told Fox News, adding that he has “not heard one peep from that man since.”
Perdue denounced those making death threats against Raffensperger and his family, but he said it is ridiculous to suggest the threats are his fault.
“It’s outrageous that anybody made a death threat, but that had nothing to do with my call for his resignation,” Perdue said. “That had to do with total incompetence around what happened in November.”
Perdue also slammed Raffensperger for leaking audio of his phone call with President Donald Trump.
“Look, we had a secretary of state that acquiesced to Democratic demands,” Perdue said of Raffensperger, adding that he found it “very unprofessional that a statewide elected official would secretly tape that and leak” Trump’s call.
“That notwithstanding, what the president did on the phone call is what he’s been doing the last eight weeks and what I’ve been asking for as well, ” Perdue continued. “That’s a fair and transparent accounting of what happened in November.”
Despite his desire for score-settling, Raffensperger denied that he had taken personally the criticism.
“It’s not a grudge at all,” Raffensperger said when asked if there is bad blood between him and Perdue. “It’s really about getting the facts out,” he said.
