country.
Next I would like to turn to
president trump's false
allegations about election
integrity.
The attorney general discussed
these allegations at some
length.
>> The idea the president has
repeated that there was some
outpouring of unexpected votes
in inner-city areas like
Philadelphia as recently as
January 13 and he walked off the
NPR set, he was asked by the
interviewer, what is your
evidence of fraud?
He said, more people voted in
Philadelphia than there were
voters.
That was rubbish.
Their turnout in Philadelphia
was in line with the state
turnout and in fact was not as
impressive as many suburban
counties.
There was nothing strange about
the Philadelphia turnout.
It was not like there were
unexpected votes that came out
in Philadelphia.
Once you actually look at the
votes, there is an obvious
explanation.
In Pennsylvania, trump ran
weaker than the Republican
ticket general care and he ran
weaker than two of the state
candidates, then the
congressional delegation running
for federal congress.
He ran weaker I think -- I have
not looked at this recently, but
he generally was the week
element on the Republican
ticket, so that does not suggest
that the election was stolen by
fraud.
>> We were talking to the
attorney in Philadelphia but an
alleged discrepancy between the
number of ballots issued and
cast.
>> That was one of the big ones
for a period of time.
I think that was raised in
gettysburg by Giuliani or
something, but it kept being
I found it annoying because --
it did not seem it was right.
I called swain and he got back
to me and said the problem is
that they throughout a number
that mixed apples and Oranges,
took the number of applications
for the Republican primary and
compared it to the number of
absentee votes cast in the
general election.
Once you actually look, there is
no discrepancy.
That is one of the -- I think at
some point I covered that with
the president.
Rep. Lofgren: We have another
witness today who has knowledge
about the election process in
Philadelphia.
Mr. Schmidt, at the time of the
presidential election, you were
serving as the only Republican
member of Philadelphia's
three-member city commission,
which is responsible for
overseeing elections throughout
the city.
Is that correct?
Mr. Schmidt: That is correct.
Rep. Lofgren: President trump
made numerous claims regarding
fraudulent voting practices in
Philadelphia, including that
dead people were voting.
Mr. Giuliani told Pennsylvania
state legislators that 8000 dead
people voted in Pennsylvania
you investigated those claims of
voter fraud.
Can you tell us what you found?
Mr. Schmidt: Not only was there
not evidence of a thousand dead
voters voting in Pennsylvania,
there wasn't evidence of eight.
We took seriously, every case
that was referred to us, no
matter how fantastical or absurd
, we took everyone one of them
seriously, even these.
Rep. Lofgren: As it turned out,
even president trump's lawyers
knew that the dead voter claims
were not valid.
>> I guess the folks in
Philadelphia are disappointed in
this.
The only submitted 8021 ballots
from dead people.
Probably easier for dead people
to submit mail-in ballots than
to vote in person.
>> Obviously I think they never
proved the allegations that they
were making, that they were
trying to develop.
Rep. Lofgren: Mr. Schmidt, on
November 11, 2020, president
tweeted about you, saying, and
here is a quote, a guy named Al
Schmidt, Philadelphia
commissioner and so-called
Republican, is being used
big-time by the fake news media
to explain how honest things
were with respect to the
election in Philadelphia.
He refuses to look at a mountain
of corruption, dishonesty, we
win.
As a result of that tweet and
the CNN interview you gave her
you stated the dead voter claims
in Pennsylvania were false, you
and your staff were subjected to
disturbing threats.
Can you tell us about that?
Mr. Schmidt: The threats prior
to that tweet, and on some level
it feels silly to talk about a
tweet, but you can see the
impact they have because prior
to that, the threats were pretty
general in nature, corrupt
election officials in
Philadelphia are going to get
what is coming to them.
You are what the second
amendment is for.
You are walking into the lion's
den.
Things like that.
After the president tweeted at
me by name, calling me out the
way that he did, the threats
became much more specific, much
more graphic, and included not
just me by name, but included
members of my family, by name,
ages, addresses, pictures of our
home.
Every bit of detail you can
imagine.
That is what changed with that
tweet.
Rep. Lofgren: Behind me are
rejected threats that you have
received -- redacted threats
that you have received.
We have redacted portions of the
texts to protect your family.
I think I speak for all of my
colleagues when I say we are
deeply sorry for what you and
your loved ones have been
through.
I also want to thank you for
your service to your country,
and for standing up for the rule
of law.
I want to thank both Mr. Pak and