Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Wednesday chided CNN anchor Phil Mattingly for asking him to respond to criticism of his new automatic voter registration initiative from Trump aide Stephen Miller.
During a discussion on Shapiro's new policy, Mattingly quoted a Miller tweet in which he claimed that Shapiro was making it easier for undocumented immigrants to vote in Pennsylvania.
"Look, I am not going to respond to Stephen Miller," Shapiro said. "That guy is a dope who can't tell the truth."
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However, after being pressed to address the substance of Miller's criticisms, Shapiro laid out the facts behind the policy.
"We put out a process that is secure and safe," he said. "It goes through our DMV process, which already includes safeguards to ensure that the person registering to vote is eligible to vote. This is an important way to expand voter participation, which I think, in turn, strengthens our democracy. I am firmly on the side of promoting and protecting our democracy."
Mattingly then asked Shapiro if he was worried that his change to voter registration policy would provide fuel for conspiracy theorists who claimed that the 2020 election was "rigged" against former President Donald Trump.
Shapiro, however, wasn't having any of it.
"Phil, respectfully, I think you are just giving their lies too much oxygen," he said.
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