HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — AP is reporting…The top Republican in Pennsylvania’s Senate said Monday that hearings will begin this week as he committed to carrying out a “full forensic investigation” of the state’s 2020 presidential election. Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre, said he has communicated with former President Donald Trump, whose baseless claims about election fraud have propelled loyalists to pursue audits, reviews or other examinations of ballots and voting machines in battleground states where Democrat Joe Biden defeated him. “I think he’s comfortable with where we’re heading and so we’re going to continue that work,” Corman said on the conservative Wendy Bell Radio program streamed online Monday.
Amid clashes over how to conduct it and how to pay for it, Corman on Friday removed the rank-and-file state senator who had been the figurehead in the push for an Arizona-style audit of Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election. Sen. Cris Dush, tapped to replace Sen. Doug Mastriano, will begin holding hearings this week, Corman said. Dush and Mastriano both traveled to Phoenix in June to see the audit there up close. Corman maintains the Senate’s aim is not to turn Trump’s defeat into victory, but to “getting to the bottom of everything that went on.” “We as the oversight body of elections have to ensure that people feel confident that elections were done fairly,” Corman said on the radio program. “I don’t think, I know they don’t feel confident in that now, and we need to provide that stability moving forward and if our work leads to someone else taking that work into a court of law, and changing those results, then so be it.”
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In recent days and months, Trump allies have held up Corman as an obstacle, even drawing Trump’s wrath on Twitter in June, saying Corman “is fighting as though he were a Radical Left Democrat.” Democrats, meanwhile, say Corman is too cowardly to stand up to right-wing conspiracy theories about the election. One question Corman’s office has been unable to answer is how to pay for an Arizona-style audit without private donations. Senate GOP officials are concerned about the legality of funding the undertaking with private money, Corman’s office said.
HARRISBURG – PennLive is reporting…The state Senate held a session on Monday for a single purpose: To remove Sen. Doug Mastriano as chairman of the Senate Intergovernmental Committee. Mastriano, R-Franklin County, was replaced by Sen. Cris Dush, R-Jefferson, who is tasked with taking lead on conducting an election integrity review. Mastriano will remain a member of the committee. The change in the chairmanship stems from a feud that played out on Friday after Mastriano went on One American News Network and accused Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman, R-Centre County, of stonewalling efforts to conduct an Arizona-style “forensic investigation” of Pennsylvania’s 2020 presidential election.
Mastriano said Corman had undermined his efforts for the committee to meet to vote on issuing subpoenas to three counties – York, Tioga and Philadelphia – to turn over documents, information and equipment related to the 2020 general election and 2021 primary election. Corman responded by accusing Mastriano of being more interested in politics and showmanship than actually getting things done. He appointed Dush to take over the chairmanship of the intergovernmental committee and further punished Mastriano by reassigning Mastriano’s staff to the president pro tempore’s office. In the interview with the conservative television network, Mastriano said if someone else takes over the election review, “I have little confidence that a real investigation will ever take place.”
Dush, however, issued a statement on Friday, saying he intends to take the new responsibility of conducting an election integrity investigation seriously, with an eye toward restoring faith in the state’s elections. “We should have been having hearings and moving toward a more formalized plan to conduct an investigation weeks ago. My team and I are in the process of getting things organized and will work with Senate Leadership to get it done,” Dush said. “The purpose of this investigation is to uncover information which is necessary for the legislature to potentially take future legislative action.”