In 2020, Attorney General Bill Barr complicit in misleading voter fraud statement’s release – DOJ Inspector General

[essentialsaltes]

Bill Barr complicit in misleading voter fraud statement’s release – watchdog​

The former attorney general Bill Barr was personally involved in a decision to release an unusual and misleading justice department statement on the eve of the 2020 election suggesting there may have been voter fraud in Pennsylvania, according to a new inspector general’s report that was released on Thursday.

The 76-page report from the justice department’s Office of the Inspector General focused on the department’s handling of an investigation into nine military ballots that were found discarded in the trash in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. Barr briefed Trump on the ballot issue before it was public and the president subsequently disclosed it in a radio interview. David Freed, the US attorney overseeing the matter, also released a statement and letter detailing the investigation.

The announcement was highly charged because it came at a time when Trump was warning the election would be rigged because of mail-in ballots. It was also highly unusual – justice department policy does not allow employees to comment on ongoing investigations before charges are filed, except in limited circumstances.

[Per WaPo: Barr met with Trump before Freed made his statement, according to the report, and told Trump the discarded ballots were votes for him [later it would turn out that 7 of 9 were for Trump, with the other two unknown] — details that had not yet been made public. The next day, Trump repeated that information on a national radio show.]

investigators quickly became aware that evidence might not exist to support criminal charges. The seasonal employee who discarded the ballots appeared to have a mental disability, FBI agents noted on 22 September, and was “remorseful”, “felt horrible” and “never voted/doesn’t vote/didn’t pay attention to it”. The suspect, who was quickly fired, reportedly believed incorrectly the military ballots were fraudulent and discarded them without telling anyone.

Freed and other justice department employees considered releasing a statement in late October 2020 when they decided to close the investigation without charges. The department’s public integrity section had wanted to issue a press release to correct the false public impression about the possibility of fraud, but ultimately the department did not. It was not until 15 January 2021 – well after election day – that the Department of Justice released a statement saying it was closing the investigation.

Barr’s behavior “was certainly not consistent” with [DOJ] guidance, the report said. Barr did not agree to a voluntary interview and the inspector general does not have the power to subpoena testimony from former justice department employees.

Freed, who was the US attorney for the middle district of Pennsylvania at the time, violated justice department policies on not commenting on ongoing investigations and a requirement to consult with the department’s public integrity section before making a statement.

see also

 

[Laodicean60]

I believed in voter fraud and still do. I've heard too many stories of prisoners, dead people, and double voting. How you would solve this issue is beyond me, maybe AI to scan ballots and reject the ones from these people. Barr reinforced what Trump was thinking and this was a bad thing and caused Trump to be more extreme in his belief.

 

[iluvatar5150]

It took the OIG 4 years to come up with this?

 

[essentialsaltes]

It took the OIG 4 years to come up with this?

Horowitz is a patient guy. Took a year and a half to determine Crossfire Hurricane was justified on the evidence and started without any improper political bias. Barr didn't like that one either.

 

[Hans Blaster]

I believed in voter fraud and still do.

Personally, I'm against it.

I've heard too many stories of prisoners, dead people, and double voting.

As a fraction of all votes cast, these are tiny in count.

How you would solve this issue is beyond me, maybe AI to scan ballots and reject the ones from these people. Barr reinforced what Trump was thinking and this was a bad thing and caused Trump to be more extreme in his belief.

Scanning ballots isn't a solution. There is nothing on the ballot would indicate anything about the fraudulent nature of the ballot. Where voter fraud needs to be detected is at the issuing of ballots at the polling place (or the envelops for mail/drop-off ballots). One thing that would help would be interconnected voter registration databases.

 

[DaisyDay]

Personally, I'm against it.

As a fraction of all votes cast, these are tiny in count.

Scanning ballots isn't a solution. There is nothing on the ballot would indicate anything about the fraudulent nature of the ballot. Where voter fraud needs to be detected is at the issuing of ballots at the polling place (or the envelops for mail/drop-off ballots). One thing that would help would be interconnected voter registration databases.

Unfortunately, many red states pulled out of the communal database checking system ERIC to go elsewhere. I can't help wondering if the reason for the far righters to trash ERIC is to sow chaos or to start their own, profitable database.