This interview is being published as part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, an effort to open up the source material behind our documentaries. Explore more interviews from "Democracy on Trial" here: kzfaq.info/sun/PL_pPc6-qR9ZyWnFlH6G5Ph_r_PKmNs0wG

Fascinating interview. I'm sincerely amazed as a European to hear intelligent conversation from a conservative. Not for a moment I lost my attention, as he talks in such vivid images. Thank you very much for posting this.

"Presidents are supposed to be the best of us." Great line.

I remember when u came out and gave your speech Gabe! Well a few speeches, but I think we all know the one. THANK YOU sir.. sincerely. I remember wondering if ANYONE gave a damn about the truth around that time .. u knew the risk .. but u set an EXAMPLE by getting up there and telling it like it was. thankyou sir. Seeing u get up there and ACTUALLY care about the repercussions of what was happening gave me hope. And I'm sure millions feel the same.

During this time period, I was able to watch Gabriel live on the local news during the day. I would see and hear his detailed explanations of what was taking place during the count and recounts (3 in total). Including the time, as he says, he lost his temper. His explanations alleviated any misgivings I may have had about vote counting in Georgia. It also made me realize that much of what I was hearing about in the other swing states was undoubtedly being misrepresented by Donald and his sycophants. This interview provided an excellent summary and chronological presentation of the events. I only wish that those who support the Don and still believe the voter fraud conspiracies would take the time to watch and take to heart what Gabriel emoted in this interview.

As a lifelong Georgian I'm extremely proud to have Gabriel Sterling as one of our own. Integrity and courage like his is rare, especially in the field of politics.

Good for Georgia officials who are standing up for democracy.

These documentaries are brilliant. They will stand the test of time. Thank you, Frontline, for doing this 🇺🇸

Gabriel Sterling is a very brave man. This is a tale of how easily things can spin out of control over lies to remain in power.

Gabriel Sterling is sharp, clear, and to the point. Excellent interview!

As a person of color I love my country. Regardless of the political climate under Trump, I still feel this is the greatest country in the world. I feel blessed to have been born here and raise my family here. Watching all these videos help me realize just how fragile our democracy can be when in the hands of the wrong leader. But these videos also give me hope and a sense of pride as I watch all the interviews of the brave individuals that didn't fold to Trump. They stood on principles, morals and the Constitution and not fear. I am forever grateful for their courage.

I'm not a Republican,, but I am a Georgia voter. I really respect Gabe Sterling and the way he represents Georgia!

I remember that speech. It was awesome. I thought that speech was one of the best I've ever seen. It makes me so sad that it didn't move more people. You are not the only Republican I've respected. You are certainly in the top 10. I'm a lifelong Democrat. I am terrified and glad I'm 77 and not 27.

I am so lost how anyone can listen to these interviews and still vote for Trump. He has showed how incompetent and dishonest he is.

Everyone needs to see this series. We are living in serious times, and Jan 6th will seems like a party compared to what we will see next.

Frontline these interviews r exemplary journalism

Thank you for being the adult in the room

Wisely and decently, Mr.Sterling followed the rules. Thank you. Then again, I'll always be sad that you don't like or respect Adam Schiff. I still adore President Carter. That's two strikes! On the other hand, you're someone who has thought about all the damage this ex-president has done, and you've weighed the pain of the Jan.6th people. That seems to mean you're both human and compassionate, so high props to you. : o )

Did it show the power of social media? I guess. But to me, it showed more the power of people who lack critical thinking skills.

"The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing." I'm glad we have people like Gabriel Sterling, he seems like a stand up guy. /cheers

"They started it," and "this is just the natural escalation that happens when both sides are doing it" just doesn't cut it when one party is trying to destroy Democracy. Hearing someone as conservative as this gives me hope that we will find a way to be the USA I'm proud to be a part.

"President's are supposed to be the example." Mr Sterling, YOU are the best of us. YOU are the example I tell my kids to follow. Thank you for speaking truth and standing on that line for our future.

I know I am repeating myself when it comes to this guy who at first gave me hope when he stood on the stair case in Atlanta demanding the threats to stop for election workers until he stated" As the laws stand now there is nothing more we can do" At that moment, my hope deflated because true to form, the republicans worked to make voting much Harder for their constituents, targeting the democratic county the most and possibly allow the Sec. of State change the outcome of the votes; Raffensperger , a republican, is now fighting his own republican senators who voted to create a board to oversee his job which is unconstitutional. Small govern. my ass.

You have a properly functioning moral compass, sir. I don’t understand why so many people who have sworn an oath of honesty and Constitutional adherence find it challenging to do the right thing when the heat gets turned up a little.

Thank you, Mr. Sterling, for your honesty.

Very Informative! We need more like this!

Even though he is a Republican I am glad that we have honorable ppl like him in politics.

A great man with, integrity, honesty, standing up for American democracy.

Mr. Sterling: A voter suppression claim is NOT the same claim as saying an election was fradulent! Stacy Abrams was complaining about ballot access, which is backed up by legislative and physical evidence. She did not say the votes were fraudulent. Trump said the votes themselves were fraudulent without evidence! Big different.

Another example of when doing the bare minimum of *following the law* makes a Republican a "hero of Democracy"...

This man has some of the bravest words in US HISTORY 🇺🇲🇮🇱🇺🇦

What's striking to me are comments of astonishment that a *conservative* is intelligent, has principles, tells the truth. I worked on the Hill a little over 40 years ago for two Democratic Members of Congress. NOBODY assumed Republicans were dumb unprincipled liars. As a member of Barney Frank's staff we watched John McCain - then a freshman Member for AZ - make his first floor speech. *Everyone was impressed!* Nearly 80% of bills were non-partisan then. Both parties had shared goals. The debate was over how to accomplish them. I *get* Mr. Sterling's bewilderment.

Gabriel Sterling is a true 🇺🇸! Standing up for the American Democracy is more noble than being a Democrat or Republican.

I am also a lifelong resident of the great state of Georgia. I am proud of Gabe. These are the conservative Republicans that I know.

Thank you, Mr. Sterling. Job well done, sir.

I was a bit amazed to hear his opinion that there was nothing to the Russia investigation after listening to the interview that gave me the impression he was very informed of events.

Well, to be fair Stacey Abrams Claim is about voter suppression which is not a lie and she accepts that he was certified.

A normal procedural task of running an election turns into a nightmare. Thank you Gabe Sterling for standing firm and having a spine. Democracy was hanging in the balance. And you chose democracy. I can only imagine the immense pressure you were under. Real life heroes!!

Lovely man yet deep down a person who tried to justify Trump's behaviour. . Surprised how unhinged Trump was with that call????? UNHINGED!!!!! Trump has always been unhinged my dear man.

As a Liberal Woman You are a good Man. Not a lot Men reach that level in my book. Thank you.

The world needs more people like Mr. Sterling. It's unfortunate that telling the truth is heroic.

I'm glad you are an honest man. Thank you Gabriel Sterling.

Worth a listen in its entirety, but this excerpt from the Transcript is crucial: Front Line: “Now, as you look back, and having lived through that moment that you described, what do you make of that, that he was told repeatedly by very respectable officials that the claims weren't true?” 42:44 Gabriel Sterling “It wasn't what he wanted to hear. It wasn't what he wanted to hear. He chose to listen to the things he wanted to hear.” 42:50 Frontline: “… To your mind, does that make him more responsible? “ Gabriel Sterling: “Look, President Trump is 100% responsible for all of this.”

Thank you Georgia. Common sense. Love your state ✨🇺🇸✨💙✨

This is the sort of person trump will never understand. Like the living and lost members of the military, this guy is about doing what’s right and serving the process and the citizens of the US, regardless of his own views or personal gain. trump will NEVER get that.

the most courageous people through all of this mess are the republicans like Gabe who voted for Trump, yet stood up for democracy. I hope there are enough people with this kind of courage in this country to make sure our system and country’s most vital institutions hold

☝️🇺🇲 Yes, I remember when this happened, & he went on TV to tell Trump, & Trumps followers to stop with the threats.It's a shame however that to this day, threats are still being made to anyone who opposes Trump.

Gabriel Sterling is a modern day patriot. Thank you for your leadership and public service.

Gabriel Sterling , A true American

"But I know in my heart they cheated" which really means "I'm unable to swallow my pride and admit I've been a gullible fool"

Another "both sides" Republican. Like AOC even begins to compare to MTG... I appreciate him fighting to keep his reputation and job.

This man is a hero. We need more reasonable people in power, people who tell the dang truth!

omg i have been waiting for tthissssss, please say you have raffensburger omg.. all of these have been so interesting ( not american ) but love poltics great stuff

My fear is that folks who didn't "live" through the time of Trump won't understand what a life-altering experience it is, and the reporting of the deleterious effects of his very existence might be softened with time. We can't let this happen.

Colorado has a five star voting system. They text me when my ballots coming. They text me again to remind me when it’s due and they text me when it’s been received that is how it should work.

We need more people like this man…

Everyone inspired by Gabriel, let's keep this energy going and work with each other!!

Thank you. These interviews are really great to watch and paint such a detailed picture.

This man has ethics and morals. Something rare for all public officials rather Republican or Democrat.

Thank God for people with integrity like Gabe he truly is a guardian of democracy His parents named him well

I was so worried for your life and everyone working for us, the people. Glad everyone was OK. Thank you.

This was a lovely interview. Athough there were many dark aspects of the interview, like the death threats, I had fun watching it. So much background information that most of the public doesn't know about. I'm a lifelong Democrat (not the angry one lol), but this guy sounds like a pretty great person representing the citizens of America. "We all hated fractions when we were kids, so a fractional vote sounds terrible". I'm a fan of this guy for sure. 👍🏼

I appreciate that this man stood up to Trump, but he is extremely disingenuous when he talks about both sides engaging in voter fraud claims.

This is the kind of person with logic and reason needed to run the office of presidency, with honest values and morals - is Gabriel Sterling a member of the Maga party or does he and Liz Cheney and members the Gop, try to rebuild Gop under a new banner?

“That’s just political crap.” No, no, no, NO! What Gabriel Sterling means to say is ‘That’s just partisan crap.’ Stop misusing the words ‘political’ and ‘politicize’ by substituting them for ‘partisan’ and ‘making (too) partisan’. Why? Because it turns politics, the art of the possible, or of getting policy done, turning it into a negative when it should have no value, negative or positive, in and of itself. Yes, there can be ‘bad politics’, or not getting policy done completely or the way the policy was intended or by some unethical means or for some reason ulterior to the public good. Conversely, good politics is getting policy completely done the way it was intended by ethical means for the public good. It should be recognized that any partisanship can do either. Likewise, a politician is merely somebody who gets policy done, most commonly understood as somebody elected to an assembly or council to get policy done. A politician can be right-wing, left-wing, Independent, or from some other party or partisanship. Unfortunately, politics-getting public policy done-has become so partisan that politicians and their supporters cannot work together cooperatively with compromises acknowledging that not everybody can get everything chi wants all at one time, so partisan that each different party cannot constructively contribute to the public good. Naturally like-minded people have their ideas about how the public good can be best obtained and, when they convene as a political party, they should be able to brainstorm, debate, compromise, and cooperate to develop policy proposals ready for vetting and representing to the assembly for elected politicians’ parliamentary votes-the politics of getting cogent policy proposals done (at least passed into law). The parliament (assembly, commons, council, congress, &c) does the same thing but at another level: elected politicians of different parties are more formally bound to a procedure that mirrors the policy-making process by parties: debate (‘parliament’ literally means ‘the place to publicly debate policy proposals’), compromise (‘horse-trading,’ ‘arm-twisting,’ ‘giving and returning favours,’ ‘give and little, take a little’, &c), cooperation (speaking to the parliament and its committees, and voting on the proposal) and acknowledgment that the process was done ethically, completely, properly, and for the same reason with which each politician, regardless partisanship, concurs: the good of the people and the nation. It is equally natural that, although the vast majority of policy is unanimously supported, some issues are disliked by one party but favoured by another-sometimes even diametrically opposed. Democracy is deployed to resolve an impasse: the voters decide which party will be in a parliamentary position to get its policy proposals done by relative weight in numbers of elected, party-affiliated politicians. Nevertheless, politics, or the political process, is always at work: despite party whips, a politician might not support every policy of cher own party; a party might change its draft legislation because of ideas from another party that make it better for the public; the electorate might disapprove of a law that got through the political and partisan processes but didn’t work so well ‘on the ground’ so that parties must consider how to better sell it to the electorate, amend, or rescind it-which is also a kind of politics. Finally, even when contentious policy was enacted by the normal, partisan, political, psephological and parliamentary processes and one party, one which didn’t win the majority (or win government-multi-party elections to the Westminster parliamentary system allows for minority governments when no single party of three or more wins a majority-Congress happens to have only two parties and a few Independents) strongly disapproves, it may speak against it in the legislature and in the ‘court of public opinion’ in order to persuade voters for the other party to switch sides in the next election or pressure their own party to amend or rescind the contentious policy (but not switch parties) or, at last resort, appeal to the courts to overturn the contentious law. This is the important point: the rule of law exists because the political process is done properly to a universal standard -not because there is partisan contention. Rather, the rule of law can deal with partisan contention because politics is done properly-that is, completely for the public good. Politics underpins the rule of law and therefore the government of the nation; politics gets needed policy done despite partisan contention. Properly done, it is the art upon which all good things depend and the source from which all good things are achieved in the public realm. It should never be used as a pejorative. Mr Sterling appears to value the rule of law, political and psephological (election-systems, voting-systems, campaigning, &c) processes, even while maintaining a partisan position. He of all people should not make Trump’s dismissal of government and politics worse by adopting the pejorative misuse of the word politics. Politics is as good as it is necessary. I’ll assume he misspoke, probably because the anti-government temper of the times has made “politics” into an insult. I get that he meant ‘politicization’ to mean ‘too partisan’-that is, almost totally chauvinistic, totally prejudiced against any position but its own, and viewing people of other partisanships as the epitome of evil. I hope I’ve made the case that misusing the word ‘politics’ is effectively contributing (in his case, unwittingly-because the misuse is now as common as chauvinistic partisanship) to this kind of hyper-partisanship which is, ultimately, incapable of good politics or, in Trump’s case, of any politics at all. PS: Trump gins hyper-chauvinistic partisanship but only values the GOP for the votes it gives him, not as a source of cogent policy proposals. That’s because he has only one partisanship, himself, just like he has only one patriotism, again himself. Ironic, no?

11,779 votes, which is one LESS than he asked for...

question will he vote for him again?

Georgia you did a wonderful job thank you for being honest for we the people

A real man. (slow, methodical) 👏👏👏👏

His strategy was to rally his millions of supporters to fight for him and themselves for the outcome that they want and to hell with the law or the truth.

I'm proud as an American for what this man stands for he defended our country our democracy ❤.

"We're defending the institution" @ 40:00 is what makes this man a hero. THANK YOU, SIR!!!

Gabriel, Mr Smirnov says Russia, Russia. Russia was for Reals!

Thank you sir !!❤

Pet peeve: it drives me bonkers when anybody says that there was nothing there with Russiagate - read the document! Clearly there was something there.

Trump told Ohio in the middle of the worst blizzard and below zero temperatures. It doesn’t matter if you’re sick or if you die. It was more important to vote for him

Well said, Mr. Sterling👍

When you think you’re with the good guys, but they then make you the bad guy. This is what every normal decent republican faces if trump gets in. You will be randomly shoved under your nearest bus. Then all that you hold dear will just be a thumpity thumpity noise to those riding on beds of republican contributions inside the bus.

Seems like a smart guy but too bad he never read the Mueller Report.

Thank you Mr Sterling for continuing to share truths and not conspiracies or fantasies we need more people like you

Kudos to this sane, competent conservative election official who kept his integrity!

According to Snopes, Trump would be joining John F. Kennedy and Herbert Hoover, who both donated their entire presidential salaries to charity, but Trump didn't donate his salary, he was the first to lie about donating his pay.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SPEAKING UP & SO WELL FOR US!!

I’ve gained a great respect for Mr. Sterling. Very serious and strong backbone. I’m a lifelong Democrat. I wish more politicians on both sides would have his character. Thank you.

Very obvious the TRUTH makes you STRONG ....Mr. Sterling's voice is STRONG

"...there are tens of millions of good people who watch and listen to him..." ---it's hard for me to characterize anyone as 'good' who is that gullible and foolish, and who remains stubbornly so.

Roger Stone told TheDon to: just say you won.

Thank you

He couldn’t help trying to trash Dems. 🙄

Please show me ONE thing AOC said or tweeted that’s “crazy” or in anyway comparable to Jewish space lasers or any other BS from MTG. Both sides my ass.

Quite fascinating! I have gotten more from this interview about the Georgia situation during the election than any media outlet covered. Gabriel Sterling is an example of a person who should be in charge of observing elections. His assertiveness towards upholding the role of law is what makes our nation GREAT. Partisanship has only made things worse for our democracy and as electors, we should be honest with ourselves and avoid anyone who stands in the way of democracy and who choose to ignore elections outcome unless they are the victor. Remember this can go both ways, so please let’s all try to avoid enabling those kind of leaders in our government.

I wish they would have asked him if he would still vote for Trump after all he has seen.

he was one who testified on trump at the hearing

I am a Democrat but I do have much respect for this honest, true Republican man than I ever had for any politician. I am listening to this now almost 4 years from when it happened and I still remember that speech he gave, he was angry but he got his point out very straight. I will always remember when he said … it has to STOP somebody is going to get kill… it is still give me the goose bumps

For me as European who has been part of a local election team a couple of times I just can't get my head around how elections are being run in the US. It sounds so insanely complicated and silly and ridiculous. Not to mention the time it takes to count votes.

This guy is a National Treasure, we need more people like this on both sides.

I remember Mr. Sterling standing on the right side of history during that time. I appreciated the speech he made back then, too. Excellent. None of that whole situation could've been easy to deal with. Nice to hear a rational, honorable Republican tell us what really happened.

Gabriel Sterling is a decent human being.

He is so honest. Very honorable man.

For a seemingly intelligent and honest man he sure says some stupid shid if you keep listening.