Gabriel Sterling, Georgia’s Voting Systems Implementation Manager, did not mince words about President Donald Trump's claims of election fraud during a press conference on Monday.

"This is all easily, provably false," Sterling said in his fiery rebuke of Trump's rhetoric. "And yet, the president persists, and by doing so undermines Georgians’ faith in the election system.”

What You Need To Know

  • Georgia’s Voting Systems Implementation Manager Gabriel Sterling delivered a fiery rebuke of President Trump's claims of election fraud across the state Monday

  • In a Saturday phone call Trump pressured Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” enough votes to overturn Joe Biden’s win in the state’s presidential election

  • Sterling on Saturday said all of Trump's claims are "easily, provably false"

  • Sterling urged Georgians to make their voices heard by voting in Tuesday's Senate runoff elections

Sterling’s rebuke of Trump’s continued insistence that widespread voter fraud cost him the election came days after a phone call between the president and Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, in which the president pressed the GOP official to overturn the statewide results of the election in his favor. 

A recording of the call was first obtained by The Washington Post and published Sunday.

“The reason I'm having to stand here today is because there are people in positions of authority and respect who have said their votes didn’t count, and it's not true," Sterling, who works for Raffensperger, said Monday. 

The president used Saturday’s extraordinary hour-long phone conversation to tick through a list of falsehoods about the election in Georgia, including claims that hundreds of thousands of ballots mysteriously appeared in Fulton County.

Sterling, himself a Republican, spent nearly half an hour Monday afternoon refuting conspiracy theories and allegations of voter fraud made by both the president and his supporters alike. 

President Trump alleged “at least a couple of hundred thousand” votes from Fulton County should be thrown out because the signatures were forged. Of the over 15,000 absentee ballots whose signatures were checked, only two came back with potential problems -- claims which were investigated and fixed in the system, Sterling said Monday. 

Trump has also claimed that over 66,000 people under the age of 18 voted in Georgia during the presidential elections. According to Sterling, that number is actually zero: an investigation found that four people statewide had requested absentee ballots before turning 18, but were of legal voting age by the time the November elections rolled around. 

Sterling also debunked a theory that ballot boxes were illegally filled with 18,000 Biden votes after a water leak caused a delay in ballot tabulation at State Farm Arena. Citing video of the event, Trump on Saturday said the ballots “weren’t in an official voter box, they were in what looked to be suitcases or trunks, suitcases but they weren’t in voter boxes.” 

Officials have repeatedly said the full video clearly shows there were no mystery ballots added to the boxes, and have since released portions of the video to the public.

“The president's legal team had the entire tape, they watched the entire tape,” Sterling said Monday. “From our point of view, [Trump’s legal team] intentionally misled the state senate, the voters, and the people of the United States about this. It was intentional, it was obvious, and anybody watching this knows that.”

All of the numbers, Sterling said Monday, add up to one conclusion: “We’ve seen nothing in our investigations... that shows nearly enough ballots to change the outcome [of the election].” 

Sterling said he was “not aware” of any discussions from Georgia officials to consider a criminal investigation following Saturday’s phone call. 

In light of the president’s continued efforts to sow doubts about the results of the election, Sterling said it is imperative that all eligible Georgians vote in the state’s upcoming Senate elections. 

With control of the U.S. Senate at stake, all eyes are on Tuesday’s runoff election that has Republicans David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler facing Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock. Nearly 3 million votes have already been cast, officials said Monday, and they expect the high turnout to continue at in-personing polling locations tomorrow. 

Sterling sought to assure Georgians, and in particular Republicans, that “everybody’s vote is going to count, everybody’s vote did count.”

“It is your obligation to turn out and vote tomorrow, be you Democrat or Republican,” Sterling continued. “However right now, given the nature of the president’s statements...we’re asking you and telling you please turn out and vote.”