The Justice Department official who oversees investigations of voter fraud has resigned after Attorney General William Barr authorized federal prosecutors across the U.S. to pursue ‘substantial allegations’ of voting irregularities before the 2020 presidential election is certified, despite little evidence of fraud.
Richard Pilger will step down from the post within hours, according to an email he sent to colleagues that was obtained by The New York Times.
Pilger, director of the Election Crimes Branch of the Department of Justice since 2010, submitted his resignation shortly after his boss, Barr, announced the unprecedented federal support for the investigations – a move which would delight Donald Trump.
In his email, Pilger said Barr’s memo was ‘an important new policy abrogating the forty-year-old Non-Interference-Policy for ballot fraud investigations in the period prior to elections becoming certified and uncontested.’ …
AG Bill Barr breaks silence. The fight is on!
Barr’s memo angered legal experts, who pointed out that any issues around voting are handled at the state level and should not be considered a federal matter. Several analysts said that Barr was at serious risk of dragging the Department of Justice into a highly partisan electoral war, waged through the courts. …
In his memo, Barr argues that the existing ‘passive and delayed enforcement approach’ could undermine the vote.
He says that the precedent should be ignored, and investigations conducted rigorously before the certification of votes on December 8.
‘In instances where they are consulted, the ECB’s (Election Crimes Branch) general practice has been to counsel that overt investigative steps ordinarily should not be taken until the election in question has been concluded, its results certified and all recounts and election contests concluded,’ he wrote.
‘Such a passive and delayed enforcement approach can result in situations in which election misconduct cannot realistically be rectified.’
From Barr’s memo:
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. Although the States have the primary responsibility to conduct and supervise elections under our Constitution and the laws enacted by Congress, the United States Department of Justice 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.
Excellent news. Obviously the current bureaucrats charged with hunting and prosecuting election cheats have been doing a remarkably poor job. Election fraud in favor of the Democrats has long been permitted to fester, especially in Pennsylvania. Perhaps the corrupt cop at the top just resigned?
There is nothing like the Trump Accountability Program to cause Republicans to stand and fight, for once. That program, yet another case of the left’s inevitable overreach, makes it clear that anyone in any way associated with the Trump administration is cancelled forever, perhaps even from working in a private firm. So they might as well fight, eh Bill Barr?
