Philly GOP commissioner speaks out about post-election threats as he urges McConnell use his 'conscience'

Al Schmidt, the Republican commissioner for the city of Philadelphia, is speaking out about the post-election threats his family faced while urging Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) to truly consider the weight of his deciding vote in former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial.

On Friday, Feb. 12, Schmidt took to Twitter with a message with disturbing details about the death threats made toward members of his family after Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (D) certified the state's election results affirming President Joe Biden's victory.

According to The Hill, he went on to discuss Trump's impeachment trial as he offered a direct message to McConnell. Schmidt warned the Republican lawmaker to carefully cast his vote. He tweeted, "The former POTUS incited supporters to threaten to kill my children and put their "heads on spikes" because we counted votes cast by eligible voters. They named my children and included my home address in the threats. Please consider when voting your conscience."

The latest news comes months after the backlash Schmidt faced after Trump attacked him on Twitter. At the time, Schmidt was featured on CNN and the former president was not pleased with his appearance.

"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," Trump tweeted. "He refuses to look at a mountain of corruption & dishonesty. We win!"

Schmidt, his wife, and staff members began receiving dangerous text messages and death threats as angry Trump supporters across the United States expressed frustration about the outcome of the election. At the time, Trump and his allies invested a substantial amount of their time circulating conspiracy theories and many of the bizarre, false claims about the presidential election; the same claims that, subsequently, led to the U.S. Capitol riots.