WILLIAM BARR

US ATTORNEY GENERAL

To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.

WASHINGTON: The US justice department had found no evidence of widespread voting fraud to change the outcome of the 2020 election, attorney general William Barr has said, in a big blow to President Donald Trump’s plans to overturn his defeat.

The department is also probing an alleged bribery scheme involving campaign donations to secure a presidential pardon, a court filing showed on Tuesday. The document is highly redacted, with all identifying information blacked out. But it refers to a “secret lobbying scheme” directed at “senior White House officials” to gain a presidential “pardon or reprieve of sentence” for an unnamed person. The probe comes days after Trump pardoned his former national security adviser Michael Flynn.

The clean chit to elections from Barr, a Trump ally, was seen as a stunning repudiation of his boss’s efforts. Barr told the Associated Press that the department of justice prosecutors and FBI agents had followed up specific poll fraud complaints and information they had received, but “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election”.

Trump’s attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis hit back in a statement, saying “there hasn’t been any semblance of a Department of Justice investigation” and that the lawyers had “gathered ample evidence of illegal voting in at least six states, which they have not examined”.

Barr also told the news agency he had named US attorney John Durham as Special Counsel to investigate origins of the Russia meddling probe into the 2016 election. As attorney general, a political appointee, he could have been easily removed by the Biden administration, but firing a special counsel can be messy.

Trump’s lies about election fraud are beginning to alarm Republicans. One Georgia election official angrily appealed to him to stop and condemn threats of violence against election officials by his supporters.

With his chances of staying in power dwindling, Trump indicated he may be considering another run in 2024. “It’s been an amazing four years. We are trying to do another four years. Otherwise, I’ll see you in four years,” he told guests at a White House Christmas party, according to a CNN report.