The Washington Post - USA (2020-11-22)

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

BY DEVLIN BARRETT

AND MATT ZAPOTOSKY

The Justice Department has
met President Trump’s fantastical
claims of widespread voter fraud
with two weeks of skeptical si-
lence, not taking any overt moves
to investigate what Trump’s law-
yer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, claims
is a globe-spanning conspiracy to
steal the election.
Such deafening silence from
one of the government’s main
enforcers of election law indi-
cates just how little evidence
there is to support the wild, wide-
ranging claims made by Trump
and his supporters, most notably
Giuliani in a Thursday news con-
ference held inside the Republi-
can National Committee head-
quarters.
Privately, Justice Department
officials have said they are willing
to investigate legitimate claims of
vote fraud; Attorney General Wil-
liam P. Barr even loosened some
restrictions that might otherwise
have discouraged prosecutors
from doing so before results are
certified.
But current and former offi-
cials said they thought Giuliani’s
accusations sounded “crazy,” and
they have not seen or heard of any
evidence suggesting large-scale
fraud, let alone the kind of
i ntercontinental conspiracy de-
scribed by the president’s lawyer.
Like others, they spoke on the
condition of anonymity to discuss
a politically sensitive matter.
A Justice Department spokes-
woman declined to comment.
The Justice Department’s si-
lence is “a tiny sliver of normalcy,
and frankly a positive sign that we
are on our way back to a better
place,” said Justin Levitt, a former
Justice Department voting rights
official in the Obama administra-
tion who is now a professor at
Loyola Law School in Los Ange-
les.
“In a way, that’s hard to say
because it feels like lowering the
bar to below the floor, to say we
should all be pretty pleased that
the institution of law enforce-
ment for the United States didn’t
go either full-on partisan talking-
point machine or full-on con-
spiracy theorist. In normal times,
that wouldn’t be something to
celebrate, that would just be a
given.... The Justice Department
also hasn’t come out and said the
world is round, because they

don’t need to.”

Levitt noted that the public can

have an inflated sense of the fed-

eral government’s role in elec-

tions, when much of the law and

regulations are handled at the

state and local levels.

“The Justice Department is a

very powerful battleship, but

there are limits to its jurisdiction,

and in an awful lot of elections,

the contested ground is on land or

in the air, where a battleship

doesn’t do you a lot of good,”

Levitt said.

Federal law enforcement offi-

cials have also said they want to

avoid getting dragged into inves-

tigations that lack any reasonable

basis of suspicion. In many of the

affidavits cited by Giuliani and

other Republicans, the assertions

amount to ill-defined suspicions

and conjecture about what might

have happened, not witness ac-

counts of actual misconduct.

In a handful of instances, the

Justice Department has quietly

signaled it is reviewing allega-

tions that have been brought to

the department, but even in those

instances, federal officials have

found little evidence of wrongdo-

ing, people familiar with the mat-

ter say.

One Justice Department offi-

cial said that just the act of an-

nouncing a probe might cast an

unwarranted “pall” on the elec-

tion’s credibility.

Richard L. Hasen, a law profes-

sor at the University of California

at Irvine and the author of “Elec-

tion Meltdown,” said that given

the attorney general’s public dis-

paragement of mail-in voting

leading up to the election, “if

there had been anything he could

have hung his hat on after the

election, he would have done so.

The fact that no one has come

forward with anything as far as

we know, that’s a pretty good

indication this has been a pretty

clean election.”

It would be nice, Hasen added,

“if Barr would issue a public state-

ment saying there had been no

evidence uncovered of any fraud

in the election,” but he might be

fired if he did so. Hasen cited

Trump’s ouster of Christopher

Krebs as an example.

Krebs, who had led the Depart-

ment of Homeland Security’s Cy-

bersecurity and Infrastructure

Security Agency, one of the key

federal agencies charged with

protecting election security, was

fired Tuesday after publicly de-

fending the vote’s integrity in the

face of baseless claims suggesting

otherwise.

Shortly before his dismissal,

Krebs refuted allegations made

by the president’s supporters that

election systems had been manip-

ulated, tweeting that “59 election

security experts all agree, ‘in ev-

ery case of which we are aware,

these claims either have been

unsubstantiated or are technical-

ly incoherent.’ ”

Krebs called Giuliani’s Thurs-

day news conference “the most

dangerous 1hr 45 minutes of tele-

vision in American history. And

possibly the craziest.”

Some current and former offi-

cials have worried that Barr, one

of Trump’s most loyal and outspo-

ken Cabinet secretaries, might

marshal Justice Department re-

sources to bolster the president’s

unfounded claims. Officials in-

side the department were partic-

ularly distressed when Barr is-

sued a memo allowing investiga-

tors to publicly pursue allegations

of “vote tabulation irregularities”

in certain cases before results are

certified, a reversal of past Justice

Department policy.

A group of 16 assistant U.S.

attorneys specially assigned to

monitor election malfeasance

urged Barr last week to rescind

the memo, saying they had seen

no evidence of substantial anom-

alies, and the head of the Justice

Department’s election crimes

branch stepped down to a lower

position in protest.

But since then, the department

has not made any public moves in

investigations that might bolster

Trump’s claims. And some offi-

cials note that Barr’s directive

was carefully worded, allowing

exceptions only for investigations

into anomalies that might change

the results of a race. The memo

noted explicitly: “Nothing here

should be taken as any indication

that the Department has conclud-

ed that voting irregularities have

impacted the outcome of any elec-

tion.”

[email protected]

[email protected]

Justice Dept. silent on fraud claims

Skepticism within agency

shows lack of evidence

for election allegations

BY KAYLA RUBLE,

TOM HAMBURGER

AND DAVID A. FAHRENTHOLD

The heads of the Republican
National Committee and Michi-
gan Republican Party issued a
joint statement Saturday calling
for Michigan’s state canvassing
board to delay certification of
President-elect Joe Biden’s victo-
ry in the state, marking the latest
attempt by GOP leaders to inter-
vene in the state’s electoral proc-
ess.
In the letter — signed by RNC
Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel,
who is from Michigan, and state
GOP Chair Laura Cox — the
officials ask the canvassing board
to adjourn for 14 days and allow
for a “full audit and investiga-
tion” before they convene to cer-
tify the state’s election results, a
procedural step that is set to take
place Monday afternoon.
“This board faces a stark
choice,” the letter reads, citing
claims of “numerical anomalies”
and “procedural irregularities”
that they say would leave “the
distrust and sense of procedural
disenfranchisement felt by many
Michigan voters to fester for
years” if ignored by the board.
The letter has increased wor-
ries among state Democratic
leaders that Republicans may
block certification Monday. They
have begun drafting legal docu-
ments and detailed contingency
plans in the event the board fails
to certify. Among the options
being considered is for Gov.
Gretchen Whitmer (D) to replace
the GOP members using her ex-
ecutive authority, or to ask a
judge to compel the board to
certify the results, said a current
and former Democratic official,
speaking on the condition of
anonymity because they were not
authorized to speak publicly on
this matter.
“There is absolutely no legal
basis for the Republican canvass-
ers to abandon their responsibili-
ty to certify the general election
result — that was a fair, free and
secure election — as required by
statute,” Christine Greig, Michi-
gan’s House Democratic leader,
said in a statement Friday. She
said the delays in declaring the
results official — particularly

those related to vote counting in

Detroit — are rooted in racism

and could be a “stunt” to influ-

ence selection of the state’s presi-

dential electors.

McDaniel and Cox’s demand

for scrutiny is entirely focused on

the election results in Wayne

County, Michigan’s largest and

most Democratic county, which

includes Detroit.

Detroit election officials and

Democratic lawyers dispute the

accounts of widespread irregu-

larities.

Wayne County officials have

noted discrepancies in the vote

count in a number of precincts.

But they said the size of the

errors was small — a difference of

one or two votes per precinct,

affecting a total of about 450

votes. Biden leads the state by

about 150,000 votes.

Still, the demand by the two

GOP leaders increases the pres-

sure on the two Republican

members of the four-member

Board of Canvassers, whose ac-

tions Monday could slow down

the process of finalizing election

results in the battleground state

and empower others to echo

President Trump’s unfounded al-

legation that he was robbed of

victory because of widespread

fraud.

In an interview Thursday, Nor-

man Shinkle, one of the Republi-

cans on the state canvassing

board, said that although he

expected Biden to win the elec-

tion, he may suggest a delay to

allow for an audit of the state’s

ballots.

Republican members of the

state legislature, including state

Sen. Mike Shirkey and House

Speaker Lee Chatfield, declared

Friday after a White House meet-

ing that they had learned nothing

to warrant reversing the outcome

in their state.

“Senator Shirkey supports a

deliberate process free from in-

timidation and threats,” Amber

McCann, Shirkey’s spokeswom-

an, said in a statement Saturday.

“The Board of State Canvassers

should feel comfortable taking

the full time allowed by law if

they feel it’s necessary to perform

their duties, or certify on Monday

if they’re satisfied it’s appropriate

to do so.”

The GOP leaders said they

“echo” the concerns voiced by

failed Republican U.S. Senate

candidate John James, citing a

letter filed by his campaign that

made claims of irregularities in

Wayne County’s elections. Cox

and McDaniel called the accusa-

tions made by the James cam-

paign “deeply concerning.”

“In light of the already unprec-

edented nature of this election —

conducted largely by mail in the

midst of an ongoing pandemic,”

they wrote, “it would be a griev-

ous dereliction of this Board’s

duty to the people of Michigan

not to ensure that the irregulari-

ties identified by the James Cam-

paign are thoroughly investigat-

ed by a full audit before certifying

Wayne County’s results.”

Attempting to offer reassur-

ance that this was not an attempt

to indefinitely block the state’s

process of selecting electors for

Biden, they wrote that “neither

that adjournment nor the audit

of Wayne County’s results would

impermissibly delay certification

of the election results beyond the

statutory deadline of December 7,

2020.”

Last week, Benson reminded

Michigan that her office had

already intended to conduct an

audit of the election and has been

preparing to do so for the past

two years, noting that this would

be a typical post-election pro-

cedure and was not being done in

response to disproved or un-

founded claims of election fraud.

According to Michigan elec-

tion law, the secretary of state

“authorize the release of all bal-

lots, ballot boxes, voting ma-

chines, and equipment after 30

days following certification of an

election by the board of state

canvassers” in the event that a

recount petition has been filed or

a court has issued an order “re-

straining interference” with

these materials.

[email protected]

[email protected]

RNC, Michigan GOP leaders call for

audit before state’s votes are certified

Canvassing board holds

power to finalize results

— or slow down process

After

571-206-

http://www.getgaslogs.com

14088-C Sullyfi eld Circle, Chantilly, VA 20151(½ Mile From Dulles Expo Center)

Hours: 7 days/week 10am-7pm

Up To 60% Off

BUY DIRECT, NOT RETAIL!

Visit our Showroom/Design Center featuring 84 Live Displays

Transform your fi replace space into a work of art

Come see us for the Home Living Fireplace Guarantee:

We BEAT ANY competitor’s prices.

Annual Fireplace

Tune Up & Fire Safety

20 point inspection

$

99

(OFF REGULAR PRICE)

*Call for details. Offer expires 11/30/20.

With a purchase of a stone veneer wall. Min 64 sq. ft.

Offer Expires 11/30/20.

Free Gas Log!

*On Select Gas Logs

and Fireplaces

with new gasline installed

while supplies last (in stock items only)

Offer Expires 11/30/20.

UP TO

60

%

OFF

Thanksgiving Sale

Contemporary Fireplaces

Before

Next DaNext Day Instally Installation**ation**

**For replacement g**For replacement gas logs.as logs. In stock items only In stock items only..