'Completely Ridiculous Allegations': Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt Defends Election Integrity After President Trump's Tweet
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- President Donald Trump on Wednesday called out the Republican member of the board overseeing Philadelphia elections. The president continues to challenge the results in the city.
The Philadelphia commissioner overseeing the election process is still part of the process of counting the remaining votes, all of this while the president continues to allege, without evidence, voter corruption and fraud in Philly.
A scathing early morning tweet from Trump directly targeted Philadelphia City Commissioner Al Schmidt.
"A guy named Al Schmidt, a Philadelphia commissioner and so-called Republican (RINO), 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!" the president claimed in a tweet.
Schmidt vehemently defended the election process in Philadelphia during a morning show network news appearance.
"We just had the most transparent and secure election in the history of Philadelphia. I have seen the most fantastical things on social media, making completely ridiculous allegations that have no basis in fact at all," Schmidt said.
Schmidt spoke from the election operation center at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, where the last several thousand votes are being tallied. He addressed the flurry of social media attacks alleging voter fraud and misconduct in Philadelphia, something he downright rejects.
"I realize a lot of people are happy about this election and a lot of people are not happy about this election. One thing I can't comprehend is how hungry people are to consume lies," Schmidt said.
"They have done a tremendous job in running this election," said David Thornburgh, with the nonpartisan election watchdog organization the Committee of Seventy.
Thornburgh says they've seen no evidence of election improprieties, hoping to quell those doubts.
"There's some really loud voices right now, shrieking about this notion of fraud but when you press them on it, not really being able to produce any evidence of that fraud," Thornburgh said.
City commissioners are counting the last few thousand ballots at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. Once they're done, they will move on to have the vote in Pennsylvania certified on Nov. 23.
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