@Kamaji The very foundation of this case is based upon opinions. Raffensperger has made no secret of his. He is a hostile witness.
Trump and his 'co-conspirators' have two angles of defense. Either prove that they believed the election was crooked, or prove that it actually was crooked. Raffensperger is a key witness to the latter.
Okay, let's go down this road a bit because I do see your point. Trump is going to be accused of improperly pressuring Raffensperger to "find" votes". Either Trump himself, or more likely a defense witness will say "Wait a minute. We believed there was evidence of all sorts of illegal conduct going on, and what we were really requesting was for him to invalidate
illegal votes." They'll then offer evidence of the illegal voting that they will claim occurred, or at least what they reasonably believed may have occurred."
I think if the judge doesn't let the defense offer evidence as to what Trump's state of mind was, and the basis for it being reasonable, that's reversible error. Doesn't mean this judge won't exclude it anyway, but I do think it would be reversible.
So the question is, how (and with what witness) does the state respond in rebuttal when Trump offers that? If the state calls Raffensperger, then how he testifies in his direct will determine whether or not the questions
@Hoodat says he should be asked will be permitted.
There is a really technical question here that is probably relevant to the scope of Raffensberger's potential testimony. I just checked Georgia law, and there's nothing that says anything like that the Secretary of State "is responsible for ensuring elections comply with Georgia law", etc.. He has some very specific responsibilities, but ultimate responsibility is not one of them. It seems a lot of that is delegated to the counties. Here's a link to an article that explains all that, including the statutory listing of Raffensberger's responsibilities in terms of elections:
https://www.11alive.com/article/news/politics/georgia-elections-how-they-actually-work-whos-responsible-for-what/85-de1989cc-62e7-4435-a9c9-f3892c7932bdSo, I think
@Kamaji is right that Raffensberger actually isn't the right guy to answer questions about shenanigans that may have happened in some counties. It's not within the scope of his job duties, and he hasn't been qualified as an expert.