Trump holds crowded rally in Georgia despite surge in Covid-19 cases

The outgoing president of the United States held a crowded rally for Republican senators in the state of Georgia on Saturday, amid a surge in Covid-19 infections in the country and as state and local authorities have called on people to avoid large gatherings and to wear masks, reported EFE-EPA.

Accompanied by First Lady Melania Trump, Donald Trump interacted with dozens of people – many of them not wearing face masks – at the airport in the town of Valdosta.

The first lady gave a brief talk in which she claimed that Trump has continued to fight for his supporters "every single day."

"Do not let your voices be silenced. We must keep our seats in the Senate. It is more important than ever that you exercise your right as an American citizen and vote," said Melania Trump.

The Trumps were in Georgia to support Republicans Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue, who on Jan. 5 will face off against Democrats Raphael Warnock and John Ossoff for seats in the Senate, after no contenders received enough votes on Nov. 3 to avoid a runoff.

If both Democrats win, it will bring an end to Republican control of the 100-member Senate, leaving it with 50 senators from each party.

More than a month after the presidential election, which has won by Joe Biden, Trump insisted – once again without presenting any evidence – on Saturday that the Democrats had "cheated."

"You know we won Georgia, just so you understand," Trump said, although the results indicate that he was defeated by more than 12,000 votes in the state.

"They cheated and they rigged our presidential election, but we'll still win it. And they're going to try to rig this election too," added the president, whose legal attempts to overturn the results of the presidential election have failed.

Local media revealed Saturday that before his trip to Georgia, Trump called the state's Republican governor Brian Kemp, allegedly urging him to persuade state legislators to revoke Biden's victory and order an audit of the signatures of absentee voters.

According to The Wall Street Journal, which cited a person privy to the details of the call, the president asked Kemp to convene a special session of the state legislature for lawmakers to appoint pro-Trump voters who would tip the electoral college in his favor.

The Washington Post, on the basis of two sources, revealed that the governor declined Trump's request.

"As I told the President this morning, I've publicly called for a signature audit three times (11/20, 11/24, 12/3) to restore confidence in our election process and to ensure that only legal votes are counted in Georgia," Kemp tweeted without going into details.

He was responding to an earlier tweet by Trump addressing the governor and Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

"I will easily & quickly win Georgia if Governor @BrianKempGA or the Secretary of State permit a simple signature verification. Has not been done and will show large scale discrepancies. Why are these two 'Republicans' saying no? If we win Georgia, everything else falls in place!" said the president.

Trump's term concludes on Jan. 20.