(The Center Square) – The two highest-ranking Democratic elected officials in Pennsylvania emphasized the legitimacy of the 2020 election results following President Donald Trump’s primetime address on Thursday evening.
“I thought it was an unfortunate day for America to have really an unhinged president in the White House spewing a whole bunch of conspiracy theories that are just simply not connected to reality,” Shapiro said on MS NOW Friday morning about Trump’s speech the night prior. “I mean, I will remind you and remind your viewers that every single time Donald Trump and his enablers have been forced to produce evidence to back up his ridiculous claims, he’s failed.”
Shapiro, who served as the state’s attorney general during the 2020 presidential election, said that efforts made to challenge the election results in Pennsylvania were not successful.
“It was largely because they could never produce the evidence to back up the president’s BS,” Shapiro said, noting previous legally unsubstantiated claims from Trump that the 2020 election was stolen.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., served as the state’s lieutenant governor during the 2020 election.
“That election was absolutely secure, fair, and accurate,” Fetterman said on CNN Sunday.
Fetterman, who has increasingly been at odds with fellow Democrats over several positions he’s taken with Republicans during the second Trump administration, noted how Pennsylvania’s current Secretary of State Al Schmidt is a Republican who has also emphasized the legitimacy of that election.
Department of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin told reporters on Friday that investigations led by the Trump administration weren’t about “rehashing the 2020 election.”
“This is just exposing what took place, and to make sure it never happens again. And there’s some really easy steps that can be taken to secure our elections. And it shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” Mullin said. “This should be something that every American, regardless if you’re a Republican, you’re a Democrat, you’re an independent, you’re a Libertarian, regardless if you live in a blue state or you live in a red state, everybody should know that their vote counts.”
Joe Biden bested Trump by roughly 80,000 votes during the 2020 election to win Pennsylvania’s 20 electoral votes.
Mullin also claimed that DHS identified 250,000 non-citizens registered to vote in four states, including Pennsylvania.
Fetterman and Shapiro pushed back on both claims.
“I don’t know why the president is dragging up all of this stuff, you’re the president,” Fetterman said. “Do something positive, and you are talking about 2020.”
“That’s been settled over six years ago,” he continued. “It’s deeply unhelpful, and that distracts important things, especially like the Iranian War right now.”
Shapiro noted that it is illegal for non-citizens to vote in Pennsylvania and said that his administration takes the sanctity of elections “very, very seriously.”
“What I would say to the administration is, if you have any real evidence of this, provide it to us,” Shapiro said. “We want to work to make sure that there’s integrity always in our system, as we believe that there is, because we’ve had free and fair, safe and secure elections repeatedly, sometimes where Donald Trump has lost, sometimes where he has won.”
“And so I would just say, if you got information, share it with us, and let’s work together to address it,” Shapiro continued. “But I think at the end of the day, what they really have is a bunch of conspiracy theories, and they’re just trying to suck up to their boss and please him at a time where he is more and more unhinged and disconnected from reality.”
Fetterman also said that a “vast majority” of counties in the state are deep red and that they’ve not encountered that kind of fraud.
“Until I see evidence that over a quarter million migrants that are registered to vote, then yeah, that would make me reconsider some of these things, but there’s no evidence, and I don’t expect that we’ll see any of that,” Fetterman said.
During Trump’s 25-minute address, he also accused China of meddling in U.S. elections.
Shapiro seemingly didn’t buy that statement from Trump, as well.
“I mean, if the president was really actually concerned about Chinese attempts to meddle in our elections, he would have raised it when he was with Xi,” Shapiro said, noting Trump’s recent meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping in May. “Instead, he went overseas and came home with absolutely nothing.”
“He sort of cowered in the presence of Xi,” he added.
Following Trump’s visit to China, the president said that he was able to secure deals with China that would deliver for American workers, farmers, and industry.
Shapiro claimed that Trump’s speech on Thursday was an effort to “suppress the vote” and “undermine people’s confidence” in elections and emphasized that his administration is prepared to have safe and secure elections in the fall.
“People will have access to the ballot box, whether they choose to vote by mail or they choose to vote in person,” Shapiro said.
Following Trump’s address on late Thursday evening, U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., wrote on social media advocating for the SAVE America Act.
The SAVE America Act, would require proof of citizenship to register to vote and establish new voter identification standards nationwide, according to FOX43. Supporters of that proposal believe it is needed to secure elections, while those who oppose think it would federalize election oversight and create barriers for voters.
NBC News reports that the proposal lacks the 60 votes needed to pass.
