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VOf the many “My Years with Donald” books that will be written about the Trump era for years to come, William Barr’s memorabilia will surely have the best chance of making it to the best-seller lists. Unfortunately, you have to formulate this in the subjunctive. Because the secrecy assigned to a Minister of Justice applies beyond the mandate. So Barr will remain the Trump administration’s biggest mystery.
Majid sattar
Political Correspondent for North America based in Washington.
The Republican has hardly spoken since the presidential election. When Barr released a memo three weeks ago asking his federal attorneys to investigate “substantial allegations of voting and counting irregularities,” Washington was very nervous: Would Barr actually use the judicial apparatus as an instrument in the plot of Trump? Even at that point, however, there were indications that he might be more concerned with appeasing the president. After all, it was Barr who made it clear before the election that law enforcement officials would not allow themselves to be caught by Trump’s campaign team. To the president’s chagrin, he had announced that his designated federal prosecutor, John Durham, would no longer present his findings on the investigation into the origins of the Russia affair before the elections. Trump, of course, demanded that Joe Biden be indicted.
“There is no evidence of systemic incidents”
On Tuesday, Barr decided to share an interim status of the voter fraud investigation. He told the Associated Press news agency: “To date, we have not seen any fraud on the scale that could have led to a different election result.” With this declaration, the Minister of Justice de facto recognizes Biden’s electoral victory. Barr went on to say that most of the allegations relate to individual cases. There is no evidence of “systematic” incidents. This, of course, went directly against the president’s claim that the counting machines had been tampered with.
Trump’s legal team immediately rejected representation. Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis said there was “no indication” of an investigation by the Justice Department. They responded: “We have gathered extensive evidence of illegal voting in at least six states.” The ministry had not verified this evidence and testimony. Barr appears to have made up his mind “without any knowledge or investigation of the substantial wrongdoing and evidence of systematic fraud.” What they didn’t say: Dozens of their lawsuits so far have been dismissed by the courts or dropped by the lawyers themselves. And: those six disputed states have now certified Biden’s electoral victory.
