Barr Says DOJ Hasn’t Uncovered Widespread Voting Fraud

The Justice Department hasn’t uncovered significant voter fraud that would change the outcome of the presidential election, Attorney General William Barr said, delivering a blow to President Donald Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of a rigged vote.

“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” Barr said in an interview published Tuesday by the Associated Press.

Barr had ordered U.S. attorneys across the country to find out if there was significant voting fraud following repeated claims by Trump and his allies, who continue to cast doubt on President-elect Joe Biden’s Nov. 3 victory.

The attorney general also said in the interview that he appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham as a special counsel, enabling him to keep his ongoing inquiry into the origins of the FBI’s Russia probe alive into the Biden administration. Barr said he made that appointment in October.

Barr has been one of Trump’s most ardent allies and repeatedly claimed before the election that the widespread use of mail-in ballots could well lead to significant fraud. But in his interview he signaled his rejection of the post-election claims by Trump and his supporters of a massive scheme to deprive the president of re-election.

“There’s been one assertion that would be systemic fraud and that would be the claim that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results,” Barr said. “And the DHS and DOJ have looked into that, and so far, we haven’t seen anything to substantiate that.”

Trump’s legal team, led by Rudy Giuliani, quickly rejected Barr’s comments.

“With all due respect to the Attorney General, there hasn’t been any semblance of a Department of Justice investigation,” the team said in a statement. “We have gathered ample evidence of illegal voting in at least six states, which they have not examined,” and the department “hasn’t audited any voting machines or used their subpoena powers to determine the truth.”

Barr was seen at the White House just after the interview was published. Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec said the attorney general was there for a previously scheduled meeting.

As Trump has escalated his claims of election fraud, he has even suggested that the Justice Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation might have been in on rigging the election.

“This is total fraud,” Trump told Fox News on Sunday. “And how the FBI and Department of Justice -- I don’t know. Maybe they are involved.”

Barr told the AP that people were confusing allegations about criminal activity with disputes that should be pursued through civil lawsuits.

“There’s a growing tendency to use the criminal justice system as sort of a default fix-all, and people don’t like something they want the Department of Justice to come in and ‘investigate,’ Barr said.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel

Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world.

To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app.

Have a story to tell? Fill out this survey for a chance to have it featured on Bloomberg Quicktake

Connect with us on…

Breaking News on YouTube