Federal prosecutors under supervision of Special Counsel Jack Smith have reportedly spoken with top election officials in Pennsylvania and New Mexico as part of the Justice Department probe into Donald Trump’s effort to overturn the 2020 election.
According to CNN, Mr Smith’s team has in recent months conducted interviews of Pennsylvania Secretary of State Al Schmidt and New Mexico Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver, with both officials providing information on “matters related to the 2020 election”.
Mr Schmidt, who spoke with prosecutors in March, is a Republican who served as a Philadelphia City Commissioner during the 2020 election. He was named to his current post by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.
CNN reported that prosecutors questioned Mr Schmidt about issues he encountered during the post-election period in 2020, including how he was impacted by misinformation about alleged voter fraud spread by Mr Trump and his allies.
Last June, he told the now-defunct House January 6 select committee that he became the target of a slew of death threats from the then-president’s supporters after Mr Trump began attacking him in a series of tweets “became much more specific, much more graphic” after the then-president called him a “RINO” and a “disaster on the massive election fraud and irregularities which took place in Philadelphia”.
The special counsel’s team has been speaking with election officials in swing states won by President Joe Biden in his 2020 contest with Mr Trump as part of their probe into the twice-impeached, now twice-indicted ex-president’s effort to remain in office against the will of voters.
CNN also reported that Mr Smith’s team has sent subpoenas to officials in all seven of the states — Georgia, New Mexico, Nevada, Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — that were targeted by Mr Trump as he sought to reverse his losses to Mr Biden in each jurisdiction.
Mr Smith and his team has also met with the top election officials from Michigan and Georgia, Jocelyn Benson and Brad Raffensperger.
In an interview with the network, Ms Benson said prosecutors she spoke to appeared to be focused on how misinformation spread by Mr Trump’s allies affected election workers, as well as the “threats that emerged from that from various sources”.
