Former Attorney General Bill Barr improperly urged a Pennsylvania prosecutor to make public statements about concerns about the security of the 2020 election, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of Inspector General (OIG) has announced. report Thursday.
Attorney General Barr spoke out about the issue of mail-in ballots found in a trash can in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and contributed to public statements that included “selective details” about the investigation, the OIG report said.
The investigation found that Attorney General Barr and U.S. Attorney David Fried violated department policy and misled the public by publicly discussing the investigation.
“Nearly all of the Justice Department lawyers we interviewed – both career employees and Trump Administration political appointees – emphasized how ‘unusual’ it is for the Department to issue a public statement containing details of an ongoing criminal investigation, especially before charges have been filed,” the report said.
But Inspector General Michael Horowitz did not accuse either of wrongdoing.
Fried’s statement included specific details about the ballots, including that all of the ballots found contained votes for former President Trump. Discussed details Trump himself spoke publicly about the incident in radio interviews and during his first debate with then-presidential candidate Joe Biden, drawing further scrutiny.
Horowitz said he was “troubled” that Barr shared the details with Trump, but said the decision did not violate State Department policy.
No charges were filed over the ballots. Investigators concluded that a poorly trained and mentally disabled elections worker accidentally threw out the ballots, which were ultimately counted.
The report recommended the Justice Department rewrite its policies on sharing information with the White House and called on the Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether actions by Attorneys General Barr and Fried may have violated the Hatch Act, which bans federal employees from making political statements.
