'A History Of Making Unfounded Allegations': Norma Torres Drops The Hammer On GOP Witness

6 months ago

During a House Administration Committee hearing last week, Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA) spoke about GOP witness, Jay Christian Adams.

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Transcript

00:00Thank you, Chairman, and I think it seems like we have forgotten, you know, the fact

00:06that the Russians had so much influence in our presidential election, and that the former

00:11president and current candidate for president, the Republican nominee, specifically asked

00:18the Russians for help in his last election.

00:22So here we are again, witnessing another attempt to undermine a free and fair and secure

00:29American election by continuing to sow doubt ahead of the 2024 election.

00:37I think that we should be clear about the credibility of the Republican witnesses that

00:41we have in front of us today.

00:43And I ask, Mr. Chairman, for unanimous consent to enter into the record two documents, one

00:50an article from NBC headline, Vote Fraud Crusader J. Christian Adams Sparks Outrage,

00:59and an article from the Law and Crime headline, Former Trump Voting Commissioner Official

01:04Forced to Apologize for Falsely Accusing People of Voter Fraud.

01:10Mr. Adams has a history of making unfounded allegations about illegal voting, allegations

01:18that were so egregious and so damaging to innocent people and families that a federal

01:24court had to step in, a federal court in 2016 and 2017.

01:31Mr. Adams published two reports called Alien Invasion in Virginia that states that thousands

01:38of people, thousands of people, had illegally registered to vote in Virginia.

01:43The report contained an appendix that contained the voter registration forms of alleged non-citizens,

01:51including their names, home addresses, and telephone numbers.

01:55This blatant attempt to intimidate voters was so egregious that a federal court forced

02:02Mr. Adams to provide a written apology on behalf of himself and his organization, PILF.

02:12The court also forced PILF to include the following disclaimer.

02:16PILF recognizes that individuals in, you know, exhibit whatever, were in fact, in fact citizens,

02:26and that these citizens did not commit felonies but were subject to your abuse.

02:33PILF profoundly regrets any characterization of those registrants as felons or instances

02:41of registration or voting as felonies.

02:44It is stunning, stunning that this is the type of behavior and witness that we have

02:50in front of us today and that the majority has brought to us and that these are the witnesses

02:55you seem to think have any credibility on any of these issues.

03:01Mr. Wallman, it is exhausting to be in this committee dealing with these types of issues.

03:07To your knowledge, is there any evidence that noncitizen voting has ever affected

03:14the outcome, the outcome of any election?

03:18I am not aware of any evidence that noncitizen voting has affected the outcome of any federal

03:23elections, and I will note that the hearing record that Mr. Von Spakovsky keeps waving

03:27around is from a quarter century ago, and since then, Congress passed the Help America

03:32Vote Act, and states happily have vastly improved and greatly upgraded their systems,

03:39their voter registration rolls, and the use of computers.

03:43Back then, it was paper records, so states and officials of both parties have upgraded

03:48and they shouldn't be subject to calumny.

03:51Absolutely, and what would you estimate the chances of noncitizens voting affecting the

03:56outcome of the 2024 upcoming election?

04:00There is no reason to think, based on facts, not intuition, that noncitizen voting will

04:06affect the outcome of this or any other federal election of significance.

04:10Like millions of Americans, I was horrified, Mr. Chairman, and disgusted by the violent,

04:16deadly attack on the Capitol that happened on January 6, 2021, but what made the attack

04:22terrifying was that on top of the threat to our democracy and on top of the threat to

04:28the peaceful transfer of power, the violent insurrection targeted us, members of Congress

04:34and staff who were here working that day.

04:38It is our job as members of this committee to ensure that nothing like this ever, ever

04:43happens again.

04:45Mr. Wallman, is there any connection between the lies that the former president and these

04:50witnesses or some of these witnesses have stated in an attempt to steal the 2020 election

04:57and the lies about noncitizens voting that this hearing is spreading today?

05:03What would be the impact to this upcoming election?

05:08False allegations about widespread misconduct spurred the January 6th insurrection.

05:14Even though court after court, 63 courts rejected it, it has spurred unwise voting laws, and

05:20I am very worried that it is going to be a factor in this election.

05:23My time is up.

05:24Thank you.

05:25I'm going to yield back, but I'm going to say, should another insurrection occur, it

05:29will be at the hands of this committee membership that continues to spread lies about our honest

05:37and free elections, and I yield back.

'A History Of Making Unfounded Allegations': Norma Torres Drops The Hammer On GOP Witness

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