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WASHINGTON (AP): The Justice Department inspector general is launching an investigation to examine whether any former or current department official “participated in an improper attempt” to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz said Monday that the investigation will investigate allegations regarding the conduct of former and current Justice Department officials, but will not extend to other government officials.
The Justice Department watchdog investigation follows a report in The New York Times that a former deputy attorney general, Jeffrey Clark, had been discussing a plan with then-President Donald Trump to remove the acting attorney general and try to challenge the results of the 2020 race. falsely saying there was widespread electoral fraud.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded that the inspector general launch an investigation “into this attempted sedition.” The New York Democrat said it was “inconceivable that a leader of Trump’s Justice Department conspired to subvert the will of the people.”
The watchdog’s investigation is part of a growing number of efforts underway to investigate attempts by Trump and his allies to subvert the election results. The movements culminated in a deadly riot on January 6 in the United States Capitol and a second impeachment trial against Trump, this time for inciting an insurrection. Also on Monday, the voting machine company Dominion Systems filed a defamation lawsuit against Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, for his repeated false claims about widespread voter fraud in the elections.
Election officials across the country, along with former Trump attorney general William Barr, have confirmed that there was no widespread fraud in the election. Republican governors in Arizona and Georgia, key states on the battlefield won by Democrat Joe Biden, also vouched for the integrity of the elections in their states. Almost all legal challenges by Trump and his allies have been dismissed by judges, including two rejected by the United States Supreme Court. – AP
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