The Attorney General Says He Hasn't Seen Any Evidence of Fraud That Could Have Changed the Outcome of the Election
Rudy Giuliani is unfazed.
In a TV interview on Sunday, Donald Trump complained that the Justice Department and the FBI have not taken his wild claims of massive election fraud seriously enough. He speculated that "maybe they're involved" in the vast conspiracy to deny him his rightful victory. Today Attorney General William Barr confirmed Trump's suspicion.
"To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election," Barr told the Associated Press. Alluding to claims by the president, former Trump lawyer Sidney Powell, and current Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, Barr added: "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 DHS and DOJ have looked into that, and so far we haven't seen anything to substantiate that."
According to Barr, the Justice Department has investigated various election fraud claims but has not found anything like the contest-flipping chicanery alleged by Trump, Giuliani, and Powell. "Most claims of fraud are very particularized to a particular set of circumstances or actors or conduct," he said. "They are not systemic allegations. And those have been run down; they are being run down. Some have been broad and potentially cover a few thousand votes. They have been followed up on."
The Trump campaign was unfazed by that assessment from the nation's top law enforcement official, who has heretofore been a vigorous defender of the president. "With all due respect to the Attorney General, there hasn't been any semblance of a Department of Justice investigation," Giuliani said in a press release from the campaign. "We have gathered ample evidence of illegal voting in at least six states, which they have not examined. We have many witnesses swearing under oath they saw crimes being committed in connection with voter fraud. As far as we know, not a single one has been interviewed by the DOJ. The Justice Department also hasn't audited any voting machines or used their subpoena powers to determine the truth."
For a sense of what the affidavits cited by Giuliani actually show, here is a sampling of the dubious evidence on which he is relying. Giuliani promised that "we will continue our pursuit of the truth through the judicial system and state legislatures, and continue toward the Constitution's mandate and ensuring that every legal vote is counted and every illegal vote is not."
