President Donald Trump and his legal teams have taken a number of new actions in the past week in their continued attempts to prove allegations of widespread election-related fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
On Tuesday, Trump’s supporters, including a number of high-profile conservatives, were understandably upset when many mainstream media networks reported that U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr and the Department of Justice had concluded their investigations into voter and ballot fraud only to turn up nothing of significance.
However, that line of reporting — as badly as the media wanted it to be true — was outright false, according to The Post Millennial. It’s true that, so far, the DOJ hasn’t discovered any fraudulent activity on a scale that would actually reverse results in any of the battleground states, but that wasn’t to conclude that the investigations were finished.
Not surprisingly, the mainstream media seized the moment after the DOJ’s initial statement, claiming that it was especially “notable” as it had been issued by Barr, one of Trump’s closest allies in his inner-circle.
“Some media outlets have incorrectly reported that the Department has concluded its investigation of election fraud and announced an affirmative finding of no fraud in the election. That is not what the Associated Press reported nor what the Attorney General stated. The Department will continue to receive and vigorously pursue all specific and credible allegations of fraud as expeditiously as possible,” a DOJ spokesperson wrote.
#NEW Dept of Justice spokesperson:
“Some media outlets have incorrectly reported that the Department has concluded its investigation of #electionfraud and announced an affirmative finding of no fraud in the election. That is not what the AP reported nor what the AG states. (1/2)— Kevin Corke (@kevincorke) December 2, 2020
The statement was released shortly after Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani released a statement on behalf of the Trump legal team expressing their disappointment in the DOJ update, though it was presumably based on the initial, false reports that implied the DOJ had closed the book on the matter.
In a separate statement, Giuliani took a shot at Barr and his DOJ, calling into question why the AG was not taking further action on a number of fraud-related investigations.
“We have many witnesses swearing under oath they saw crimes being committed in connection with voter fraud. As far as we know, not a single one has been interviewed by the DOJ. The Justice Department also hasn’t audited any voting machines or used their subpoena powers to determine the truth,” Giuliani said.
According to the Associated Press, Barr clarified that involving the DOJ in such cases is not the first step, rather, they’re battles that should be first fought in the fashion of civil lawsuits.
But he also made clear that should his office receive credible evidence of election-related fraud, that those involved would be pursued.