U.S. Attorney General William Barr succumbed to pressure from President Donald Trump and some Republican leaders alleging voting fraud in the 3 November US election, by ordering a probe.
In a letter to federal prosecutors on Monday, he authorised them to pursue investigations into “substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities,” while urging them not to chase “fanciful or far-fetched” claims.
The letter to prosecutors, which was seen by Reuters, marked the first time Barr addressed President Donald Trump’s repeated and unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud since last week’s election won by Democrat Joe Biden.
It came several hours after Barr met with Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who earlier on Monday said Trump was well within his rights to look into charges of “irregularities” in last week’s election.
“I authorize you to pursue substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to the certification of elections in your jurisdictions in certain cases, as I have already done in specific instances,” Barr wrote in the letter to federal prosecutors and the FBI.
President Trump and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani have repeatedly made broad allegations of voter fraud in a number of states, but have not provided evidence for their claims.
Trump has filed lawsuits in a number of states that he either lost to former Vice President Joe Biden or is trailing in the vote count as the final ballots are tallied.
Biden secured his electoral college victory over Trump in the 2020 election with his projected win in Pennsylvania and Nevada on Saturday.
Biden is leading Trump in Arizona and Georgia, states that he will have flipped Democratic if he’s ultimately victorious in them. (AFP)
