Federal prosecutors push back on Barr memo on voter fraud claims

WASHINGTON >> Career Justice Department prosecutors pushed back last week against a memo by Attorney General William Barr that opened the door to politically charged election fraud investigations, saying in a pair of messages that Barr thrust the department into politics and falsely overstated the threat of voter fraud.

The protests were the latest rebuke of Barr by his own employees, who in recent months have begun criticizing his leadership both privately and publicly. They argued that Barr has worked to advance President Donald Trump’s interests by wielding the power of the department to shield his allies and attack his enemies. On Friday, 16 federal prosecutors across the country who were assigned to monitor elections for signs of fraud wrote to Barr that they had found no evidence of “substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities.” They asked him to rescind the memo, saying it thrust the department into partisan politics and was unnecessary because no one has identified any legitimate suspicions of mass voter fraud.

The memo “is not based in fact,” the monitors wrote.

Issued Monday amid the president’s efforts to falsely claim widespread voter fraud, the memo allows prosecutors to investigate “substantial allegations” of fraud before the results of the presidential race are certified, disregarding department policies intended to keep law enforcement investigations from affecting the outcome of an election.

“It was developed and announced without consulting nonpartisan career professionals in the field and at the department,” the prosecutors wrote of the memo. “The timing of the memorandum’s release thrusts career prosecutors into partisan politics.” The Washington Post earlier reported their letter.

On Thursday, a top career prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington said in an email sent to Barr via Richard P. Donoghue, an official in the Deputy Attorney General’s Office, that the memo should be rescinded because it went against longstanding practices, according to two people with knowledge of the email.