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WASHINGTON — PresidentTrump pressured Georgia’s Re-publican secretary of state to“find” him enough votes to over-turn the presidential election andvaguely threatened him with “acriminal offense” during an hour-long telephone call on Saturday,according to an audio recording ofthe conversation.

Mr. Trump, who has spent al-most nine weeks making falseconspiracy claims about his lossto President-elect Joseph R. BidenJr., told Brad Raffensperger, thestate’s top elections official, thathe should recalculate the votecount so Mr. Trump, not Mr. Biden,would end up winning the state’s16 electoral votes.

“I just want to find 11,780 votes,which is one more than we have,”Mr. Trump said during the conver-sation, according to a recordingfirst obtained by The WashingtonPost, which published it onlineSunday. The New York Times alsoacquired a recording of Mr.Trump’s call.

The president, who will be incharge of the Justice Departmentfor the 17 days left in his adminis-tration, hinted that Mr. Raf-fensperger and Ryan Germany,the chief lawyer for secretary ofstate’s office, could be prosecutedcriminally if they did not do hisbidding.

“You know what they did andyou’re not reporting it,” the presi-dent said during the call. “Youknow, that’s a criminal — that’s acriminal offense. And you know,you can’t let that happen. That’s abig risk to you and to Ryan, yourlawyer. That’s a big risk.”

The effort to cajole and bullyelected officials in his own party— which some legal experts saidcould be prosecuted under Geor-gia law — was a remarkable act bya defeated president to crashthrough legal and ethical bound-aries as he seeks to remain inpower.

By any standard measure, theelection has long been over. Everystate in the country has certifiedits vote, and a legal campaign byMr. Trump to challenge the resultshas been met almost uniformly

ON TAPE, TRUMP PUSHES GEORGIA TO ‘FIND’ VOTES

By MICHAEL D. SHEARand STEPHANIE SAULWASHINGTON — After four

years of enabling and appeasingPresident Trump, Republicansfind themselves at the end of histenure in exactly the place theyhad so desperately tried to avoid:a toxic internecine brawl over hisconduct and character that couldbadly damage their party.

With their Senate power on theline in Georgia in one day, Republi-cans entered the new Congress onSunday bitterly divided over thebasic question of whether to ac-knowledge the reality that Mr.Trump had lost the election, or toabet his unjustified and increas-ingly brazen attempts to overturnthe results.

The extraordinary conflictamong congressional Republi-cans reflects the dilemma theyface after four years of acquies-cence to Mr. Trump’s whims andsilence in the face of his most out-rageous actions. Now that thepresident has escalated his de-mands to subvert an election, theyare confronting a litmus test in-volving democracy itself, keenlyaware that many voters couldpunish them for failing to back Mr.Trump.

The rift has thrust Republicans— who typically try to minimizetheir differences in public — intoan intramural battle more pro-nounced than any other of theTrump era before what would nor-mally be a routine joint session onWednesday to certify President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory.Top party officials, including thetop two Senate leaders and the No.3 House Republican, quietlypushed back against what allsides conceded would be a futileeffort — though one that has thebacking of a growing segment ofthe party — to reject the results.

Others spoke out publiclyagainst the instigators of themove to invalidate Mr. Biden’swin, accusing them of putting po-litical ambition before the nation’sinterest.

“Efforts to reject the votes ofthe Electoral College and sowdoubt about Joe Biden’s victorystrike at the foundation of our Re-public,” Paul D. Ryan, the formerHouse speaker and Republican

By CARL HULSE

New Congress OpensWith RepublicansBitterly Divided

Continued on Page A14

Official Rejects Callto Overturn State’s

Election Result

Continued on Page A15

Black civic leaders in Oregonheard the alarm bells early in thepandemic.

Data and anecdotes around thecountry suggested that the co-ronavirus was disproportionatelykilling Black people. Locally,Black business owners had begunfretting about their livelihoods, asstay-at-home orders and variousother measures were put intoplace. Many did not have valuablehouses they could tap for capital,and requests for government as-sistance had gone nowhere.

After convening several virtualmeetings, the civic leaders pro-posed a bold and novel solutionthat state lawmakers approved inJuly. The state would earmark $62million of its $1.4 billion in federalCovid-19 relief money to providegrants to Black residents, busi-ness owners and community orga-nizations enduring pandemic-re-lated hardships.

“It was finally being honest:This is who needs this supportright now,” said Lew Frederick, astate senator who is Black.

But now millions of dollars ingrants are on hold after one Mexi-can-American and two white busi-ness owners sued the state, argu-ing that the fund for Black resi-dents discriminated against them.

The dispute in Oregon is the lat-est legal skirmish in the nation’sdecades-long battle over affirma-tive action, and comes in a year inwhich the pandemic has starklyexposed the socioeconomic andhealth disparities that African-Americans face. It has unfolded,too, against the backdrop of theBlack Lives Matter movement,with institutions across America— from corporations to city coun-cils — acknowledging systemicracism, and activists demandingthat meaningful steps be taken toundo racial inequities.

Politicians, social scientists and

Lawsuits Target a Covid FundMeant to Help Black Residents

By JOHN ELIGON A Cry of DiscriminationOver the Economic

Aid in Oregon

Continued on Page A17

As governments around theworld rush to vaccinate their citi-zens against the surging coronavi-rus, scientists are locked in aheated debate over a surprisingquestion: Is it wisest to hold backthe second doses everyone willneed, or to give as many people aspossible an inoculation now — andpush back the second doses untillater?

Since even the first shot ap-pears to provide some protectionagainst Covid-19, some expertsbelieve that the shortest route tocontaining the virus is to dissemi-nate the initial injections aswidely as possible now.

Officials in Britain have alreadyelected to delay second doses ofvaccines made by the pharmaceu-tical companies AstraZeneca andPfizer as a way of more widely dis-tributing the partial protection af-forded by a single shot.

Health officials in the UnitedStates have been adamantly op-posed to the idea. “I would not bein favor of that,” Dr. Anthony S.Fauci, the nation’s top infectiousdisease expert, told CNN on Fri-day. “We’re going to keep doing

what we’re doing.”But on Sunday, Moncef Slaoui,

scientific adviser of OperationWarp Speed, the federal effort toaccelerate vaccine developmentand distribution, offered up an in-

triguing alternative: giving someAmericans two half-doses of theModerna vaccine, a way to possi-bly milk more immunity from thenation’s limited vaccine supply.

The rising debate reflects na-

tionwide frustration that so fewAmericans have gotten the firstdoses — far below the number theadministration had hoped wouldbe inoculated by the end of 2020.

Delay 2nd Doses? Give 2 Half-Doses? Vaccine Lag Fuels a DebateBy KATHERINE J. WU

and REBECCA ROBBINS

People lined up for vaccinations last week in Lehigh Acres, Fla. About 300 doses were available.OCTAVIO JONES FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A6

The approvals, which include a shotdeveloped in India, begin a vast cam-paign to inoculate 1.3 billion. PAGE A4

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-7

India Clears 2 VaccinesThe pandemic has shelved N.B.A. half-time performers, exacting a financialand emotional toll. PAGE D5

SPORTSMONDAY D1-5

No Fans to Keep in the SeatsWonder Woman has remained steadfastin her decades-long fight for justice, buther costumes have evolved quite a bit,George Gene Gustines writes. PAGE C2

ARTS C1-6

Relentlessly Super Stylish

Students and recent graduates struggleto get hired as the fossil fuel industrycuts tens of thousands of jobs, some ofwhich may never come back. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-5

Oil Careers on the SkidsThe release of “Consent” put France’sliterary establishment under a harshspotlight, forcing it to confront a nationit resembles less and less. PAGE A8

INTERNATIONAL A8-12

Examining French Publishers

Substance-abuse centers say the shiftfrom in-person programs to virtual carehas led to a worrisome trend. PAGE A7

‘Relapsing Left and Right’The Jets fired Coach Adam Gase afterfinishing 2-14, and the Browns ended along playoff absence. PAGES D2-3

An Eventful N.F.L. Week 17

President Xi Jinping is making tradedeals, in hopes of heading off U.S. ef-forts to rally a united front. PAGE A9

China’s Leader Builds Leverage

A federal agency reduced a hospital inNew Mexico to a clinic — in the middleof the pandemic. PAGE A13

NATIONAL A13-20

Concerns About Tribal Health

Shirley Young rose in advertising be-fore General Motors took her onboard,and in a second act served as a culturaldiplomat to China. She was 85. PAGE D6

OBITUARIES D6-8

A Trailblazing Businesswoman

Kara Swisher PAGE A18EDITORIAL, OP-ED A18-19

With President Trump touchingdown in North Georgia on Mon-day to court white rural votersand President-elect Joseph R. Bi-den Jr. rallying support from a di-verse electorate in Atlanta, thehigh-stakes Senate runoffs areconcluding with a test of howmuch the politics have shifted in astate that no longer resembles itsDeep South neighbors.

Should the two challengers winTuesday and hand Democratscontrol of the Senate, it will bewith the same multiracial andheavily metropolitan support thatpropelled Mr. Biden to victory inGeorgia and nationally. And if theRepublican incumbents prevail, itwill be because they pile up mar-gins in conservative regions, justas Mr. Trump did.

That’s a marked change fromthe 2000 election, when George W.Bush won decisively in the Atlan-ta suburbs to capture the stateand Democrats still ran competi-tively with right-of-center votersin much of rural North and SouthGeorgia.

After resisting the tide of Re-publicanism longer than in otherparts of the South — it didn’t electits first G.O.P. governor until 2002— Georgia became a reliably redstate in the nearly two decadessince. But now, it’s fast becoming apolitical microcosm of the country.

Although Georgia still skewsslightly to the right of America’spolitical center, it has become po-litically competitive for the samedemographic reasons the countryis closely divided: Democratshave become dominant in big cit-ies and suburban areas but theysuffer steep losses in the lightly-populated regions that onceelected governors, senators and,in Georgia, a native-born presi-dent, Jimmy Carter.

“Georgia is now a reflection ofthe country,” said Keith Mason, aformer chief of staff to Zell Miller,the late Democratic governor andU.S. senator from a small town inNorth Georgia. Mr. Miller helpedhold off Republican realignmentin the state in the 1990s only to ac-celerate it in the early 2000s whenhe crossed party lines to endorseMr. Bush’s re-election.

Conservative Democrats likeMr. Miller are rare, as are the sort

Senate RunoffsReflect ChangesIn Old Red State

By JONATHAN MARTINand ASTEAD W. HERNDON

Continued on Page A20RAMIFICATIONS President Trump’s actions could violate statutes onelection fraud, depending on interpretation, lawyers said. PAGE A16

PRESIDENT TRUMP We have won this election in Georgia based on all of this. And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, Brad. … And there’s nothing wrong with saying that, you know, um, that you’ve recalculated …

BRAD RAFFENSPERGER Well Mr. President, the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong.

♦

TRUMP You know what they did and you’re not reporting it. That’s a criminal — that’s a criminal offense. And you can’t let that happen. That’s a big risk to you and to Ryan, your lawyer. And that’s a big risk. ... So look. All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have because we won the state.

♦

TRUMP I watched you this morning and you said, uh, well, there was no criminality. But I mean, all of this stuff is very dangerous stuff. When you talk about no criminality, I think it’s very dangerous for you to say that.

♦

RAFFENSPERGER Mr. President, you have people that submit information and we have our people that submit information. And then it comes before the court and the court then has to make a determination. We have to stand by our numbers. We believe our numbers are right.

TRUMP Why do you say that though? I don’t know. I mean, sure, we can play this game with the courts, but why do you say that?

From Audio Recording of President Trump’s Phone Conversation With Georgia’s Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . No. 58,928 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, MONDAY, JANUARY 4, 2021

Today, clouds giving way to sun-shine, seasonable, high 43. Tonight,becoming mostly cloudy, low 36. To-morrow, partly cloudy, high 43.Weather map appears on Page B6.

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