Former AG Bill Barr personally involved in decision to publicize details of 2020 mail-in ballot probe, DOJ watchdog find
Source: CNN
Former AG Bill Barr personally involved in decision to publicize details of 2020 mail-in ballot probe, DOJ watchdog finds
By Hannah Rabinowitz and Tierney Sneed, CNN
4 minute read
Published 12:20 PM EDT, Thu July 25, 2024
(CNN) A Justice Department watchdog has found that former Attorney General Bill Barr was personally involved in the decision to publicize an incident from the 2020 election nine mail-in ballots for Donald Trump being discarded in a dumpster in Pennsylvania that flamed the false narrative of widespread voter fraud.
But the departments inspector general stopped short of finding that Barr violated any internal policies, concluding that he had wide discretion as attorney general to disclose details from criminal investigations. Investigators ultimately determined that the ballots were discarded in error by a contractor, and no charges were brought.
The inspector general looked at the decision to put out a press release about the incident from Justice Department prosecutors in the Middle District of Pennsylvania in September 2020. The release said investigators were looking into potential issues with mail in ballots.
Barr encouraged and authorized US Attorney David Freed to issue the statement a move several DOJ attorneys called unusual and he specifically approved inclusion of the details about the discarded ballots, including that all the recovered ballots had been cast for President Trump, according to the inspector generals report released Thursday.
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Read more: https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/25/politics/bill-barr-2020-election-fraud/index.html
SharonClark
(10,323 posts)and he truly was.
Grins
(7,890 posts)How did they know? They opened them? Why would they do that?
FakeNoose
(35,697 posts)Our Pennsylvania mailed ballots have 2 envelopes. The ballot must be placed inside the 2nd "Privacy" envelope and completely sealed. The outer mailing envelope shows the address and signature of the voter, plus the date they signed the envelope.
There's no way that Bill Barr or anyone else would have known that the discarded votes were cast for Chump unless he violated the law by opening the inner Privacy envelopes.