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December 3, 2020

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No evidence of widespread vote fraud, says Barr

US Attorney General William Barr said on Tuesday the Justice Department has found no evidence of widespread voter fraud in last month鈥檚 election, even as President Donald Trump kept up his flailing legal efforts to reverse his defeat.

The comments by Trump鈥檚 top law enforcement official came as the Republican president鈥檚 official and unofficial lawyers filed new long-shot legal motions to challenge his loss to Democratic President-elect Joe Biden.

Barr, who has been frequently accused by Democrats of politicizing law enforcement, said that prosecutors have not found evidence to back up Trump鈥檚 claims that the November 3 election had been marred by widespread fraud.

鈥淭o date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,鈥 Barr said.

The Trump campaign said the Justice Department did not investigate thoroughly enough.

Biden defeated Trump by 306 to 232 in the state-by-state Electoral College that chooses the president 鈥 the same margin that Trump declared a 鈥渓andslide鈥 when he won four years ago 鈥 and leads by more than 6.2 million ballots in the popular vote.

Trump鈥檚 fraud claims have been repeatedly rejected by state and federal officials, and he has had no significant success in dozens of court cases.

Nevertheless, Trump鈥檚 campaign launched a new effort in Wisconsin on Tuesday, asking the state鈥檚 top court to consider throwing out 221,000 absentee ballots that allegedly lacked information. Biden won the state by about 20,000 votes.

In a separate lawsuit, one of Trump鈥檚 former lawyers asked a federal judge to declare Trump the winner in that state. But one of the plaintiffs listed in that case said he was not aware he was involved.

鈥淚 had one conversation with a lawyer. I said that鈥檚 interesting, get back to me, and that was it,鈥 said Derrick Van Orden, a military veteran who ran unsuccessfully for Congress, 鈥淚 was added to the lawsuit without my knowledge.鈥

The lawyer who filed that suit, Sidney Powell, said there had been a miscommunication. 鈥淲e will take appropriate action to clear that up,鈥 she said.

Powell was removed from Trump鈥檚 legal team after floating a range of conspiracy theories to explain Trump鈥檚 loss.

While unsuccessful in court, Trump鈥檚 complaints appear to have yielded political benefit as polls show a large percentage of Republicans believe the election was not fair.


 

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