Alex Jones leads Trump supporters on march into Georgia capitol building as top elections official faces death threats
The conspiracy theorist called on his supporters to surround the governor’s mansion
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Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was among Trump supporters rallying both in and outside of the Georgia capitol on Wednesday as part of the so-called "Stop the Steal" protests.
Demonstrators were supporting Donald Trump's unproven and thus-far baseless claim that he actually won the election and that rampant voter fraud is to blame for his loss.
Georgia's recount must be completed by 11:59pm on Wednesday. Joe Biden currently leads Mr Trump by 14,000 votes.
Brad Raffensperger, the state's Republican Secretary of State, said he did not expect that the results of the recount will flip Mr Biden's victory.
Mr Raffensperger claimed that GOP officials - including Sen Lindsey Graham - have pressured him to toss out legally cast votes in order to help Mr Trump's re-election chances. Mr Graham has denied the allegation and called it "ridiculous."
In addition to the pressure from fellow Republicans, Mr Raffensperger also received death threats after Senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue - who are both competing in run-off elections in Georgia this January - demanded he step down after accusing him of running an incompetent election, although without making any specific complaints.
According to Fox 5 News, callers told Mr Raffensperger's wife that "your husband deserves to face a firing squad" and that they should be "put on trial for treason and face execution." One caller told Mr Raffensperger that he "better not botch this recount" because his "life depends on it."
On Monday, Mr Jones called for his supporters to travel to Atlanta and "surround the governor's mansion."
Video clips shared on Twitter Wednesday showed Mr Jones and other lesser-known conservative social media personalities marching in the streets outside the capitol building in Atlanta, carrying signs and chanting.
At one point a group of protesters - most of whom were not wearing masks to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus - entered the state capitol building.
Mr Jones was among the smaller group that entered the building.
Ali Alexander, a former Tea Party political operative and one of the organisers of the "Million MAGA March" over the weekend, was with Mr Jones when the demonstrators marched into the capitol and past the building's security guards.
Georgia police asked Mr Jones and the protesters to manage their noise and to take their protest back outside the building. After posing for a photo op on the capitol's stairs, Mr Jones and the other right-wing personalities led their followers back outside the building before the rally dispersed.
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