President Trump spoke remotely at an informal hearing Wednesday in Pennsylvania exploring voting fraud and irregularities during the November election, saying the people who are testifying and coming forward are “patriots.”
“I really appreciate being asked to speak, and I am in the Oval Office right now, and it is very interesting to see what is going on, and this was an election we won easily. We won it by a lot,” Mr. Trump said. “This is not the United States of America.”
“This election was rigged, and we can’t let that happen,” the president added. “This election has to be turned around.”
His comments came during a hearing before Republican state lawmakers in Gettysburg that was informal and took place at the Wyndham Hotel. It was hosted by the Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee.
The committee’s chair, Pennsylvania state Sen. David Argall, said the event is being used to examine local, county, state and federal design and conduct during the Nov. 3 election. He noted that he’s received tens of thousands of calls to his office from constituents upset with the handling of the election.
The president had planned to attend in person, according to reports, but the trip was canceled after a senior campaign adviser announced he had tested positive for COVID-19.
Rudolph W. Giuliani, who has been leading the Trump campaign legal team, presented witnesses that said they were prevented from inspecting mail-in ballots in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, in addition to other counties in the state.
Mr. Giuliani estimates more than 670,000 ballots lacked proper inspection and should be tossed. Another witness testifying to data analysis said there appeared to be manipulation of ballot tabulation.
A registered Democrat also testified, saying she wants to see a fair election.
She identified herself as a poll worker in Philadelphia and said she was met with a hostile attitude from election workers and witnessed irregular conduct at her polling site. One example was voters not disposing of mail-in ballots properly, and those required to cast provisional ballots being allowed to vote regularly.
• Alex Swoyer can be reached at aswoyer@washingtontimes.com.
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