‘Someone’s going to get killed’: Georgia election official begs Donald Trump to stop baseless fraud claims

Gabriel Sterling says threats since the election have become widespread and things have "all gone too far".

Gabriel Sterling speaks during a news conference at the Georgia State Capitol building in Atlanta on Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2020. Source: Sipa USA Atlanta Journal-Constitution/TNS

A Republican top election official in Georgia has implored US President Donald Trump to “stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence” by fanning baseless claims that the election he lost last month was rigged.

Gabriel Sterling, manager for the state’s voting systems, said threats since the election have become so intense that police officers are stationed outside his house.

The official also said the wife of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has been getting “sexualised threats” on her mobile phone, and a young contractor received death threats after viral internet messages falsely claimed he had been caught committing fraud.

Mr Sterling, visibly angry at a brief press conference on Tuesday, directed some of his remarks squarely at fellow-Republican Mr Trump, who continues to make false claims that he won the 3 November election against Democratic President-elect Joe Biden and that the voting was marred by widespread fraud.

White House spokesmen did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Courts and election officials have not seen evidence to substantiate Mr Trump’s claims and nor has the US Department of Justice, according to Attorney General William Barr, a Trump appointee widely seen as loyal to him.

“Stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone’s going to get hurt, someone’s going to get shot, someone’s going to get killed,” Mr Sterling said.

“It has all gone too far,” he added. “It has to stop.”

Last week, Mr Trump publicly labelled Mr Raffensperger, also a Republican, an “enemy of the people.”

On Monday, one of the president’s lawyers, Joseph diGenova, called in to a cable show to say that Christopher Krebs, the former head of US election security, should be “taken out at dawn and shot.”

Mr Krebs was fired by Mr Trump after saying there was no evidence voting had been compromised.

Mr Sterling said Mr Trump’s statement about Mr Raffensperger “helped open the floodgates to this kind of crap.

“There are some nutballs out there who are going to take this and say, ‘The president told me to do this,’” Mr Sterling said.