DOJ says election fraud probes not over after AG Barr says evidence presented won't change election outcome
The U.S. Department of Justice has denied that investigations into allegations of voter fraud have been concluded, following a statement by Attorney General William Barr who said the evidence submitted thus far would not change the election results.
In response to an article published by The Associated Press Tuesday, a DOJ spokesperson sent out a statement to media clarifying that Barr’s comments did not mean they had stopped investigating voter fraud claims.
“Some media outlets have incorrectly reported that the Department has concluded its investigation of election fraud and announced an affirmative finding of no fraud in the election," a DOJ spokesperson said in a statement to the media Tuesday night, as reported by CBS News' senior investigative correspondent Catherine Herridge.
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"That is not what the Associated Press reported nor what the Attorney General stated. The Department will continue to receive and vigorously pursue all specific and credible allegations of fraud as expeditiously as possible,” the DOJ spokesperson added.
In an interview with The Associated Press published Tuesday, Barr said, "U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up specific complaints and information they’ve received, but 'to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.'”
“There’s been one assertion that would be systemic fraud and that would be the claim that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results. And the [Department of Homeland Security] and DOJ have looked into that, and so far, we haven’t seen anything to substantiate that,” Barr said.
At present, former vice president Joe Biden is the projected winner of the presidential election, having gotten approximately 80 million votes and 306 Electoral College points to President Donald Trump’s approximately 74 million votes and 232 Electoral College points.
For his part, Trump has not conceded the race to Biden and his campaign has filed extensive litigation in several states challenging the results, alleging widespread voter fraud.
Most of the legal challenges have been rejected by various courts, with multiple judges concluding that the allegations of election fraud lacked credible evidence.
Last month, a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruled against an effort by the Trump campaign to prevent Pennsylvania from certifying its election results in favor of Biden.
“Free, fair elections are the lifeblood of our democracy. Charges of unfairness are serious,” wrote Circuit Judge Stephanos Bibas, who was appointed by Trump. “But calling an election unfair does not make it so. Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.”
Last month, the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Council issued a statement saying there was “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”
On Tuesday, the Michigan State Senate Oversight Committee held a hearing on election fraud in which they heard seven hours of witnesses' testimonies of allegations of fraud and reports of mail-in ballots being cast for the deceased.
