Barr intervenes in Trump's pursuit of legal battle, gives nod to attorney generals

The US attorney general, William Barr has authorised the federal prosecutors to start investigating the “substantial allegations” of the irregularities in the voting across the nation during US Election 2020. Paying heed to the accusations US President Donald Trump has posed in the aftermath of media outlets declaring Joe Biden as the winner of presidential elections, Barr has given a nod to the practice which is a major break from the longstanding tradition. Moreover, both Trump and his supporters are backing the allegations without any evidence that a ‘major fraud’ has been committing in votings.

The intervention of the US attorney general came after he has been repeatedly accused of politicising the DoJ. Meanwhile, Trump has categorically refused to graciously concede to President-elect Biden and has been promoting a range of legally meritless lawsuits aimed at casting doubt on the integrity of the democratic process. Biden was confirmed as the president-elect on November 7 after he claimed victory in the crucial battleground state of Pennsylvania.

In a letter to US attorneys on November 9, Barr gave permission to go ahead with the “substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities” before the results of the US Election 2020 are justified in their jurisdictions. Barr himself confessed in the letter that such move by the federal prosecutors of interfering in the elections is frowned upon with a perception that investigations into a possible fraud should only be carried out when the presidential race is completed. 

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But the US attorney general, who was appointed by Trump in 2019, pours scorn on such an approach and denounced it as a “passive and delayed enforcement approach”. The highly contentious move by Barr, first reported by the Associated Press, was even shared by US President who has been using Twitter to promote his idea of elections being a ‘fraud’ and ‘embarrassment’, as he has said before. Moreover, soon after the news was broken, the New York Times reported the resignation of the justice department official overseeing voter fraud investigations, Richard Pilger.

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Republicans sceptical about outcome

Even though top Republicans are publicly backing US President Donald Trump’s fight against the US Election 2020 results, they are well aware of the grim possibility that that outcome might be changed. Therefore, as per the CNN report, the senior party members are hoping that the court fights that Trump is mounting are resolved quickly. Several Republican lawmakers told the media outlet on November 9 that Trump, who is reluctant in conceding to President-elect Joe Biden, is within his rights to make his case court. 

However, all senators are reportedly sceptical of Trump’s chances of overturning tens of thousands of votes in several key states. Some wouldn’t even say that they are agreeing with US President’s baseless claims of ‘massive voting fraud’. Earlier, Trump had even lashed out on media for inaccurate polls in US Election 2020 and reiterated his claims of votes being miscounted. 

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Image: AP