Much like Georgia secretary of state Brad Raffensperger, his aide Gabriel Sterling is fed up with President Trump and the battleground state’s two Republican senators — Sens. David Perdue (R-GA) and Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), whose runoff elections in January will determine the balance of the Senate — for failing to condemn death threats of violence against election officials and workers.
Sterling came out swinging as he kicked off his fiery press conference Tuesday afternoon by saying he would do his “best to keep it together, because it has all gone too far.”
After calling out Trump campaign lawyer Joe DiGenova — who has come under fire for saying that Chris Krebs, the cybersecurity official who was fired by President Trump after assuring the public that the 2020 election was secure, should be “taken out at dawn and shot” — Sterling issued a scathing rebuke of Trump for his failure to condemn the death threats aimed at election officials and workers.
“Mr. President, you have not condemned these actions or this language,” Sterling said.
Sterling didn’t stop at the President, however. The Georgia election official excoriated Purdue and Loeffler — both of whom attempted to pressure Raffensperger into resigning amid Trump’s baseless claims of widespread voter fraud — as well for remaining tight-lipped.
“Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions,” Sterling said, referring to Purdue and Loeffler. “This has to stop. We need you to step up. And if you’re going to take a position of leadership, show some.”
Sterling also said that both he and Raffensperger — which include Raffensperger’s wife getting “sexualized threats through her cell phone” — have received death threats.
“It has to stop,” Sterling said. “This is elections. This is the backbone of democracy. And all of you who have not said a damn word are complicit in this.”
Sterling said that “the straw broke the camel’s back” when an election contractor in Gwinnett County “who was just trying to do his job” faced death threats after conspiracy theorists posted videos of the worker on social media. The posts baselessly claimed that the worker manipulated data.
Sterling declined to name the worker, but referred to them as a “twenty-something tech” employed by Dominion Voting Systems — a voting machine vendor at the center of bogus right-wing conspiracy theories alleging widespread election fraud.
The Georgia election official told reporters that the unnamed worker has seen “death threats and a noose put out, saying he should be hung for treason” and that the worker’s family has also faced harassment.
Later in the press conference, Sterling directly implored Trump to finally acknowledge that “it looks like you likely lost the state of Georgia” and called on the sitting president to “stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence.”
“Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get shot, someone is going to get killed,” Sterling said. “And it’s not right.”
Watch Sterling’s remarks below:
"It has all gone too far," Georgia election official @GabrielSterling said while addressing threats against election workers.
"Mr. President, you have not condemned this language or these actions. Senators, you have not condemned this language or these actions." #gapol pic.twitter.com/AF86Iy1RJT
— GPB News (@gpbnews) December 1, 2020
