On Monday, the Justice Department’s top election crimes prosecutor resigned in protest after Attorney General William Barr told federal prosecutors that states should move to certify results in the next few weeks and that they should examine allegations of voting irregularities.
Richard Pilger, the director of the elections crimes branch in the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, told colleagues in an email that the attorney general was issuing “an important new policy abrogating the forty-year-old Non-interference Policy for ballot fraud investigations in the period prior to elections becoming certified and uncontested.” Pilger also forwarded the memo to colleagues in his resignation letter.
In his email, Pilger didn’t clarify if he had plans to stay in the department in another capacity.
Barr told prosecutors that they could take investigative steps like interviewing witnesses when they would normally need permission from the elections crimes section. It’s not clear what practical effect the policy would have in an election in which Donald Trump lingers being the President-elect Joe Biden by tens of thousands of votes in swing states.
During last week’s election, Barr didn’t indicate that the Justice Department has come up with evidence to support Trump’s claim of massive fraud.
After weeks of internal discussions among Justice officials, senior officials told Barr that changing the fraud investigations policy would be a bad idea. According to the person briefed on the matter, Barr issued the memo Monday to the surprise of senior officials and Pilger.
A Justice official said no one asked or directed Barr to issue his memo.
The purpose of Barr’s memo is still unclear since prosecutors already know their responsibilities to investigate vote fraud and other irregularities. But it could serve to provide Trump some indication that Barr and the Justice Department are working to find the evidence that he and his campaign have yet to produce.
Barr told prosecutors in his memo: “I authorize you to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities before the certification of elections in your jurisdictions in certain cases, as I have already done in specific instances.”
He wrote, “While serious allegations of voter fraud should be handled with great care, specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims should not be a basis for initiating federal inquiries.”
Justice officials say Barr has become obsessed with the idea of voter fraud in the recent weeks. He has repeatedly inquired about efforts by prosecutors to look for signs of fraud. He also asked about the possibility of sending federal officers to polling stations, though he was advised that federal law prohibited sending armed federal officers to guard the polls.
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