US Attorney General, William Barr has authorized the Justice Department (DOJ) to look into the claims of voting irregularities made by incumbent President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
The Attorney General made the authorization in a memo he signed on Monday and addressed to U.S. Attorneys; the assistant attorneys general for the DOJ’s criminal division; civil rights division; the national security division; and the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Christopher Wray.
“Now that the voting has concluded, it is imperative that the American people can trust that our elections were conducted in such a way that the outcomes accurately reflect the will of the voters,” the memo read.
The memo comes after 39 House Republicans sent a letter to the Attorney General pressing him to allow available DOJ resources to look into allegations of voting irregularities across the country in several key states.
The President Donald Trump campaign has filed a number of lawsuits in some of those states where the incumbent believes he had won “massively.”
The Attorney General noted that although states are primarily responsible for the conduct and supervision of elections, the DOJ has “an obligation to ensure that federal elections are conducted in such a way that the American people can have full confidence in their electoral process and their government.”
He said concerns that overt actions taken by the DOJ in this case are greatly minimized, since the voting has concluded.
He also said he has already authorized the DOJ to pursue substantial allegations of voting and voting tabulation irregularities in specific instances.
“Given this, and given that voting in our current elections has now concluded, I authorize you to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections in your jurisdictions in certain cases, as I have already done in specific instances,” he said.
He said inquiries and reviews may be conducted if there are clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual state.
He said his authorization should not be taken to mean that voters irregularities as claimed by Trump and his party has affected the outcome of the election
“I provide this authority and guidance to emphasize the need to timely and appropriately address allegations of voting irregularities so that all of the American people, regardless of their preferred candidate or party, can have full confidence in the results of our elections,” he said.
The US presidential election was majorly a battle between the incumbent President and candidate of the Republican Party, Donald Trump and Joe Biden of the Democratic Party.
Although the winner of the election has not been officially declared, the media on Saturday projected Joe Biden as the President-elect after he scored over 270 electoral college votes.
However, President Donald Trump has rejected the result citing massive irregularities and election fraud in key battleground states where he believes he was leading.
Prominent Republicans congressmen had earlier urged Trump to “fight hard” and not concede defeat in the race.
The lawmaker said the President’s allegation of election fraud and irregularities must be investigated.
The top Republican congressmen said they will work with the Democratic Party government if Biden wins, but insisted that Trump did not lose.
Although some other top members of the ruling party were more guarded in their comments, they nonetheless refused to acknowledge Biden as the winner of the tightly contested presidential election.
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