ATLANTA — Georgia remained a topic of focus during a hearing Monday for the U.S. House committee investigating the January 6, 2021 riot at the U.S. Capitol Building.
Taped testimony was heard from multiple top Trump-appointed officials about how they couldn't find evidence supporting claims of widespread voter fraud in Georgia following the 2020 presidential election.
Former Atlanta-based U.S. Attorney BJay Pak testified in person about then-Attorney General Bill Barr directing him to investigate specific claims being made by President Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani.
"He asked me to make it a priority to get to the bottom of, try to substantiate the allegation made by Mr. Giuliani," Pak testified.
Pak is a former Republican state representative and in 2017 was appointed by Trump to serve as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
Trump referenced Pak during a January 2021 phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger where Trump can be heard saying, "I just want you to find 11,780 votes," the exact number needed to flip Georgia's election results in his favor after he lost to now President Joe Biden.
"I mean you have your never-Trumper U.S. attorney there," Trump can be heard saying on the recorded call when discussing investigations into Georgia's election results.
Two days later Pak suddenly resigned.
The main claim Pak had been investigating was the myth that black "suitcases" filled with ballots were hauled into State Farm Arena where Fulton County ballots were being counted.
There were additional claims made by Trump and his campaign that those ballots were counted multiple times.
Pak in his testimony addressed surveillance video Giuliani previously played during a Georgia Senate committee hearing where Trump's attorney said it showed fraud.
"Mr. Giuliani only played a clip that showed them pulling out the official ballot box from under the table and referring to that as a smoking gun of fraud in Fulton County, but in actuality, in review of the entire video it showed that was an official ballot box that was kept underneath the tables and we saw them pack up because of the announcement that they thought they were done for the night and once the announcement was made that you should continue counting they brought the ballot box back out and they continued to count," Pak testified Monday.
Pak added that FBI agents as part of his investigation questioned election workers seen in the video clips and reached the same conclusion the Secretary of State's office reached in its own investigation.
"Determined that nothing irregular happened in the counting and the allegations made by Mr. Giuliani were false," he said.
During the Jan, 6 committee hearing, Pak was asked about the election results in hindsight.
"It is your view today that there was no evidence of widespread fraud sufficient to undermine confidence in the outcome of the election in Georgia?" asked Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democratic congresswoman from San Mateo, California.
"That is correct," Pak said.
Trump appointed Bobby Christine to serve as Pak's replacement after his resignation, which Lofgren asked about.
"It is my understanding that Mr. Christine continued any investigations that were pending at the time of my departure, but he was unable to find any evidence of fraud that affected the outcome of the election," Pak said.