on September 23, 2020 US Attorney General William Barr speaks
during a discussion with state attorneys general on protection from
social media abuses in the Cabinet Room of the White House in
Washington, DC. AFP/PHOTO
US Attorney General William Barr gave federal
prosecutors blanket authorization Monday to open investigations
into voting irregularities, as President
Donald Trump repeated unfounded claims he lost the
presidential election due to fraud.
Barr, long a close defender of Trump, stressed that his
letter to US attorneys around the country was not an indication
that the Justice Department had evidence yet of genuine cases of
fraud in the election won by Democratic challenger Joe Biden.
But he unleashed the prosecutors from former restrictions on
such probes, just as Republicans leveled claims of illegal voting
and vote-counting in several states, claims that still await solid
evidence.
“Given that voting in our current elections has now concluded, I
authorize you to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote
tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections
in your jurisdictions in certain cases,” Barr said in the
letter.
“Such inquiries and reviews may be conducted if there are clear
and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if
true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in
an individual state.”
Voting fraud investigations are normally the purview of
individual states, which establish and police their own election
rules.
Justice Department policy has been to hold back any federal
involvement until vote tallies are certified, recounts completed
and races concluded.
But Barr told the attorneys that “practice has never been a hard
and fast rule,” and stressed that, if they see anything that could
reverse the results of last Tuesday’s election, they should pursue
it.
(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});
“While serious allegations should be handled with great care,
specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims should not be
a basis for initiating federal inquiries,” he wrote.
US media reported that the head of the Justice Department’s
Election Crimes Branch, which oversees investigations into voter
fraud, resigned following Barr’s order.
The branch director, Richard Pilger, reportedly handed in his
resignation within hours of Barr’s authorization.
In an email to colleagues about Barr’s order, Pilger said,
“Having familiarized myself with the new policy and its
ramifications… I must regretfully resign from my role,” The New
York Times reported.
Barr’s order came as Trump battles to reverse Biden’s
narrow wins in several key states — Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia
and Arizona — that gave Barack Obama’s former vice president
enough electoral votes to win the overall presidential
election.
The Trump campaign and the Republican party have filed
or threatened lawsuits in several of the states, hoping to change
the outcome with ballot disqualifications and recounts.
But so far, their actions have gone nowhere, and state officials
have challenged them to provide proof of allegations.
Trump had reportedly pressured Barr to get involved on his
behalf even weeks before the election.
But the attorney general had disappeared from public view for
several weeks, until Monday when he was seen meeting with Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.