A Republican official on Monday revealed the threats he and his family faced after former President Donald Trump named him in a tweet aimed at overturning the result of the 2020 presidential election.
Al Schmidt, who resigned from his position as a Philadelphia City Commissioner last year, was one of three city commissioners serving on the city’s County Board of Elections in November, 2020 when his state’s presidential election vote count was targeted by Mr Trump.
Pennsylvania, with its 20 electoral votes, was critical to Mr Trump’s chances of retaining the White House. But in the days following Election Day, it became clear that Joe Biden — thanks in large part to his decisive margin of victory in Philadelphia — would win the state and the presidency.
That’s when Mr Trump, falsely alleging fraud, began demanding that election officials stop counting mail-in ballots in Philadelphia — putting Mr Schmidt in the centre of a storm. On November 11, Mr Trump took direct aim at Mr Schmidt on social media.
“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,” Mr Trump tweeted. “He refuses to look at a mountain of corruption & dishonesty. We win!”
The consequences of that tweet, Mr Schmidt testified to the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack, were extremely significant.
Mr Schmidt testified that he and his family received detailed threats to their lives, with one message specifically mentioning his children being “fatally shot.” The committee saw the content of several of those threats, which Mr Schmidt last year testified to a Senate committee were meant to “intimidate and coerce us into not counting every valid vote.”
“After the president tweeted at me, by name, calling me out the way that he did, the threats became much more specific,” Mr Schmidt said. “Much more graphic. And included not just me, by name, but included members of my family, by name, their ages, our address, pictures of our home. Just every bit of detail that you could imagine. That was what changed with that tweet.”
Mr Biden ending up winning Pennsylvania by just more than 80,000 votes. His margin of victory in Philadelphia, where Mr Schmidt was helping administer the elections process, was more than 450,000 votes. There was no evidence of fraud in the vote-counting process, just of a fair result that lifted Mr Biden.
Mr Schmidt’s testimony helps reveal the extent of a campaign to pressure relatively obscure officials to intervene against democracy in the aftermath of the election that left officials fearing for their safety and the safety of their families.
The House Select Committee voiced its appreciation for Mr Schmidt, as well as former US Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia BJay Pak for their testimony and commitment to democracy.
“I want to thank both Mr Pak and Mr Schmidt for their service, for their testimony, and for standing up for the rule of law,” Rep. Zoe Lofgren of California said.
