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- Prosecutors assigned to investigate baseless allegations of irregularities in vote tallies told Attorney General William Barr that they found no “substantial irregularities,” The Washington Post reported.
- Barr sent a memo on Monday requesting prosecutors to investigate “substantial claims” of fraud.
- Some in the Department of Justice have said the request was baseless, aided President Donald Trump, and went against longstanding department policy.
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Prosecutors assigned to investigate baseless allegations of irregularities in vote tallies in the election have told Attorney General William Barr that they found no “substantial irregularities,” The Washington Post reported.
Though there is no substantial evidence, President Donald Trump, who lost the election and has refused to concede to President-elect Joe Biden, has made baseless allegations of mass fraud after Biden won several key swing states.
Earlier this week, before states even certified election results, Barr sent a memo to federal prosecutors allowing them to investigate allegations of potential election fraud, breaking longstanding policy.
Richard Pilger, the director of the Department of Justice’s elections-crime branch and the top elections official, resigned from that position as a result of the move.
“Having familiarized myself with the new policy and its ramifications I must regretfully resign from my role as director of the Election Crimes Branch,” Pilger wrote in an email to colleagues.
Barr's memo went against long-standing policy meant to prevent the DOJ from interfering in elections.
The 16 US assistant attorneys that were assigned to carry out investigations also told Barr that the policy "thrusts career prosecutors into partisan politics," The Post reported.
Barr's memo told the prosecutors "to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections in your jurisdictions in certain cases." The memo specifically applied to places where the election results could be impacted.
However, the prosecutors found no evidence of fraud in the 15 different federal court districts they were in.
"The policy change was not based in fact," the attorneys wrote.
Kerri Kupec, a spokesman for the DOJ told The Post that nothing in the memo was suggesting that "voting irregularities have impacted the outcome of any election."
Others in the DOJ also took issue with Barr's memo, claiming that it worked to help Trump, and sidestepped department policies.
Trump has boosted numerous claims that the election was being "stolen" and that fraud helped Biden win, but on Thursday the Department of Homeland Security also said there is no evidence of fraud.
"The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history," the DHS said in a statement.