Elections in the US: Attorney General tells Justice Department to investigate allegations of voter fraud if they exist

Attorney General William Barr has authorized federal prosecutors across the United States to pursue “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities, if any, before the 2020 US presidential election is certified, despite little evidence of fraud. .

Barr’s action comes days after Democrat Joe Biden defeated US President Donald Trump and raises the possibility that Trump will use the Justice Department to try to challenge the result. It gives prosecutors the ability to circumvent long-standing Justice Department policy that would normally prohibit such overt actions before the election is certified.

Trump has not conceded the election, instead claiming without evidence that there has been a widespread multi-state conspiracy by Democrats to skew the vote count in favor of Biden.

Biden has a considerable advantage in various battlefield states and there has been no indication of enough votes incorrectly counted or illegally cast that would change the outcome. In fact, election officials from both political parties have publicly stated that the elections went well, although there have been minor problems that are typical in elections, such as voting machines breaking and ballots being badly cast and lost.

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In a memo to US prosecutors, obtained by The Associated Press, Barr wrote that investigations can be conducted “if there are clear and seemingly credible allegations of wrongdoing that, if true, could affect the outcome of a federal election in an individual state “. . “

He said that any allegation that it “will clearly not affect the outcome of a federal election” should be postponed until those elections are certified and prosecutors should likely open so-called preliminary investigations, which would allow investigators and prosecutors to see if there is evidence to allow them to take. more investigative measures.

Barr does not identify any specific cases of alleged fraud in the memo.

“While it is imperative that credible allegations are addressed in a timely and effective manner, it is equally imperative that Department personnel act with appropriate caution and maintain the Department’s absolute commitment to fairness, neutrality, and non-partisanship,” he wrote Barr.

States have until Dec. 8 to resolve electoral disputes, including recount and court disputes over the results. The members of the Electoral College meet on December 14 to finalize the result.

Barr, a loyal ally of President Donald Trump, helped spread Trump’s claims of voter fraud before the election, attacking voting by mail as prone to undue influence and coercion, despite multiple studies debunking the notion of widespread electoral fraud in general and in voting. -by mail process.

Generally, the policy of the Department of Justice is “not to conduct open investigations, including interviews with individual voters, until the result of the election allegedly affected by fraud is certified.”

But Barr argues in the memorandum that concerns that such acts could have an inadvertent impact on an election are minimized after the vote is concluded and that, in some cases, investigations cannot be delayed until the election is certified.

A Justice Department official said that Trump, no one else in the White House or any lawmaker had asked Barr to issue the memo. The official was unable to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.

Barr was in the office of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Capitol Hill Monday afternoon and declined to answer questions from reporters when he left. Early Monday, McConnell endorsed Trump after a period of post-election silence.