Top US lawyer quits over 'vote fraud' memo
US lawyer general William Barr has allowed prosecutors to probe alleged irregularities in the presidential election, prompting a senior justice department official to give up. The state, Richard Pilger, would have overseen such investigations. Such cases would normally be the remit of individual states, but Mr Barr said this was not a solid rule. Donald Trump won't accept Joe Biden's projected victory, and has made unsubstantiated fraud claims.
The president's campaign is seeking a crisis injunction in Pennsylvania to prevent Mr Biden's victory being certified in the state.The president-elect's projected win there on Saturday took him over the threshold of 270 electoral college votes needed to secure victory nationwide. Trump's spokeswoman vowed the legal battle to contest Mr Biden's victory was only beginning. "This election isn't over," White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany told a news conference. "Definately not it."
The legal professional general wrote that inquiries could be made by federal prosecutors "if there are obvious and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, may potentially impact the results of a federal election in an individual State".Barr said prosecutors should only look into "substantial allegations" of irregularities, and that "specious, speculative, fanciful or far-fetched claims" ought to be ignored.
He acknowledged that each states had the principal responsibility for the conduct of elections but said the justice department had "an obligation to make sure that federal elections are conducted in such a way that the American people can have full confidence within their electoral process and their government".
The department would normally only exceed preliminary investigations after an election had been concluded and the results certified, but Barr said this may result in conditions where "misconduct cannot realistically be rectified".
Pilger said he previously quit in response to Barr's memo. "Having familiarized myself with the brand new policy and its ramifications... I must regretfully resign from my role," he wrote within an email to colleagues.Separately, the Trump campaign filed a lawsuit on Monday in a Pennsylvania federal court, seeking a crisis injunction to avoid state officials from certifying Mr Biden's victory in the state. The state's Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, called the lawsuit "meritless".
Prosecutors in Republican-controlled states meanwhile threw their weight behind the president's challenge to the election results.The 10 state attorneys general filed a so-called amicus brief at the US Supreme Court backing the Trump campaign's case in Pennsylvania.Since media projected on Saturday that Biden had won the critical state of Pennsylvania, accumulating enough votes to claim the White House, the president-elect has forged ahead along with his plans to take the reins of power.
Trump took to Twitter again on Monday to dispute the outcome, making unsubstantiated claims of "unthinkable and illegal" activity in the vote.The General Services Administration (GSA), which manages federal agencies, has held off on allowing Biden aides to formally start the transition, saying no "ascertainment" on an election winner had yet been made.The GSA is tasked with formally recognizing the president-elect, and providing the funds and usage of federal agencies that Biden's transition team needs.
In previous elections it has mostly acted promptly following the winner was declared, apart from the disputed election in 2000 when it waited until a Supreme Court ruling decided the effect on 14 December.CBS News, the BBC's US partner, says the Biden team is considering its legal options if the Trump administration continues to stall the handover.
White House reporters have already been saying that despite his objections, Mr Trump is likely to leave office begrudgingly in January and has already been discussing running for the White House again in 2024.At Monday's news conference, Ms McEnany and Republican National Committee (RNC) chairwoman Ronna McDaniel cited allegations of electoral corruption, while urging reporters to greatly help investigate the unverified claims.
Conservative channel Fox News cut from the event, citing having less evidence. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," said presenter Neil Cavuto. "Unless she [Ms McEnany] has more details to back that up, I can't in good countenance continue steadily to show you this."McEnany told reporters: "We have only begun the process of obtaining an accurate, honest vote count." She said Republican poll watchers was not granted adequate usage of vote counts in the location of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, both Republican and Democratic election monitors were kept from 13ft to 100ft (4m to 30m) from tables where votes were being tallied in the town, and local election officials cited coronavirus prevention needs for the distancing.McEnany also said election officials for the reason that key state had allowed a disproportionate number of Democrats to improve, or "cure", inaccurately filled-out ballots.
According to the Inquirer, some Pennsylvania counties allowed voters to amend such mistakes, while some didn't.McDaniel said that they had collected 131 affidavits, or signed legal statements under oath, in Michigan within their investigation into alleged election irregularities."If the shoe were on the other foot," she said, "if it were this close the other way, if President Trump was in the lead in all these states... the media will be screaming, 'This isn't over'."
