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WASHINGTON (AP) – Attorney General William Barr has authorized federal prosecutors across the United States to prosecute “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities, if they exist, before the 2020 presidential election is certified, despite little evidence of fraud.
Barr’s action comes days after Democrat Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump and raises the prospect that Trump will use the Justice Department to try to challenge the outcome. This gives prosecutors the opportunity to circumvent long-standing Justice Department policy that would normally prohibit such overt actions before the election is certified.
Trump did not concede the election and instead claims, without evidence, that there was a widespread multi-state conspiracy by Democrats to skew the vote count in favor of Biden.
Biden holds a considerable lead in several battlefield states and there is no indication that there are enough miscounted or illegally cast votes that would change the outcome. In fact, election officials from both political parties have publicly stated that the election went well, although there were minor issues typical of the election, including broken voting machines and ballot papers that went off. were badly gone and lost.
In a note to US lawyers, obtained by the Associated Press, Barr wrote that investigations “can be conducted if there are clear and apparently credible allegations of wrongdoing which, if true, could potentially have an impact on the result of a federal election in a given state. . “
He said any allegation that “clearly has no impact on the outcome of a federal election” should be postponed until those elections are certified and prosecutors are likely to open so-called preliminary inquiries. which would allow investigators and prosecutors to see if there is evidence that would allow them to take further investigative steps.
Barr does not identify any specific instances of suspected fraud in the memo.
“While it is imperative that credible allegations be dealt with swiftly and effectively, it is also imperative that departmental staff exercise caution and uphold the Department’s absolute commitment to fairness, neutrality and impartiality.” , Barr wrote.
States have until Dec. 8 to resolve electoral disputes, including recounts and court challenges over the results. The members of the Electoral College meet on December 14 to finalize the result.
Barr, a staunch ally of President Donald Trump, helped publicize Trump’s pre-election election fraud allegations, attacking postal voting as subject to undue influence and coercion, despite multiple studies debunking the notion of fraud omnipresent electoral system in general and during voting. -by e-mail.
As a general rule, the policy of the Department of Justice is “not to conduct open investigations, including interviews with individual voters, until the outcome of elections allegedly affected by fraud is certified”.
But Barr argues in the memo that concerns that such acts might inadvertently impact an election are minimized once the vote is over and that in some cases investigations cannot be delayed until the election is certified.
A Justice Department official said Mr. Trump, no one else in the White House or no lawmaker had asked Barr to release the memo. The official was unable to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the PA on condition of anonymity.
Barr was in the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Capitol Hill Monday afternoon and declined to answer reporters’ questions when he left. Earlier Monday, McConnell lent his support to Trump after a period of post-election silence.
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