The Boston Globe reports that Attorney General Bill Barr said that the Department of Justice has not discovered any widespread fraud. Whatever they have found has not been enough to change the outcome of the election.
Attorney General William Barr said Tuesday the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election.
His comments come despite President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the election was stolen, and his refusal to concede his loss to President-Elect Joe Biden.
In an interview with The Associated Press, Barr said U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up specific complaints and information they’ve received, but they’ve uncovered no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.
“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” Barr told the AP.
When will Trump stop claiming that the election was “stolen”? When will he stop undermining our democracy?
Diane Ravitch's blog 
“…they’ve uncovered no evidence that would change the outcome of the election.”
Oh dear. Now Trump is going to have to fire William Barr. He isn’t being loyal enough when he believes there is no voter fraud.
What will all those 70-80% of the Republicans voters think? What will all the Republicans in Congress do now that they have been betrayed?
Tough SH*T! It’s time for some truth instead of the continuing garbage from Trump’s mouth.
Barr can follow the Hoover Institute’s Scott Atlas, out the door.
Trump fired Chris Krebs for admitting that the 2020 election was fair and accurate.
What will he do to Barr?
“Exterminate” him.
Krebs indicated that he may file a lawsuit against the trump campaign
in response to death threats he’s received.
Each time a person associated with the trump campaign makes a statement that leads to threats against an individual, a member of his cabinet should lose security detail to that targeted person.
Oh dear. Now Trump is going to have to fire William Barr.
That was my first reaction. It may explain why Trump as added the Department of Justice and FBI to his enemies list.
I am not a lawyer but I do hope the legal community has some way to censor or perhaps disbar the many lawyers who have co-conspired with Trump to manufacture lies about voter fraud, and that includes many elected officials who are lawyers and been propagating lies about the election.
Does Barr fear the Bar?
My first thought, too. Trump will fire William Barr and put someone like his son-in-law in charge of the DOJ.
And just like that Bill Barr became a #Resistance Hero.
I am completely mystified as why someone reporting a fact turns Barr into a #Resistance Hero?
If anything, your characterization of Barr as now part of the “resistance” (i.e. crazily anti-Trump) speaks volumes about your extreme misperceptions about what all of us who recognize Trump for what he is are all about.
Barr could not lie for Trump in this case. The only kinds of people who could think that makes Barr a “hero” to democrats and progressives are rabidly pro-Trumpers who believe telling the truth makes one anti-Trump and part of the “resistance” (that coven of evil people who are out to get Trump).
You could have written:
“And just like that Bill Barr became #Deep State.”
But that would be a comment on Trump’s malfeasance instead of your comment belittling those who recognized Trump’s unfitness.
Dienne,
Are you saying that Bill Barr is now a Resistance Hero? In your eyes perhaps.
My guess is that he’s making one last desperate effort to salvage his reputation. It’s too late for that.
Or are you just mocking anyone who could not tolerate Trump?
Bill Bart could accompany Rod Blagojevich, on the lecture circuit. 😁
My cousin the lawyer says he can get into big time trouble by saying things that are not true. Apparently prosecutors are bound by ethics standards. Why not presidents?
With a new President almost certain to be confirmed, the “deep state” career officials at Justice were bold enough to leave Barr no choice.
Barr is covering his own butt with a semblance of decency.
Bill Barr said he wanted to introduce religion at every opportunity.
In 2019, the Guardian described Hungary’s Orban as using Christianity to tighten his grip in Hungary. “He boasts his administration in contrast to secular equivalents in Western Europe is dedicated to a distinctive notion of Christian liberty.”
After Trump’s defeat, the Acton Institute in Michigan, posted advice on its blog (11-20-2020), in an article written by a self-described “practicing Catholic”. The writer wrote, “For Catholics and other Christians… Catholics can push for liberty through our faith…America is becoming less Christian and less open to the free market.” The writer then quotes the Heritage Foundation (Koch-funded). “In Washington, there are no permanent victories nor defeats, just permanent battles.” (The author included abortion as example.)
Financial Times reported today about the arrest of a close ally to Orban who is a loyalist lawmaker and who is fervently anti -LGBT. The lawmaker’s arrest relates to a “lock-down busting ‘sex party’ ” in an alleged gay bar in Brussels.
The trumps fraud claims will stop when he can no longer raise $ or hold political power by making those claims.Also, If/when he goes to jail they will stop.
“When will Trump stop claiming that the election was “stolen”? When will he stop undermining our democracy?” When the suckers quit sending money.
The Barr stood on the burning deck
Eating bitters by the peck
Trumpy called him but he would not go
Because he loved that power so
Truth and falsehood walked into a Barr
Two Openly Black Gays won congressional seats in New York:
Mondaire Jones (D-17)
and
Richie Torres (D-15)
Richie is Hispanic too.
🙂🔔
Yay! I know there was a lot of worry over the outcome.
Barr has told us what Justice Dept. attorneys did not find: evidence of widespread voter fraud. But he has not said what, if anything, his attorneys did find. (That the Attorney General asked his attorneys to seek out evidence of voter fraud is concerning. Ordinarily, lawyers investigate only when they have reason to believe a crime or other wrong has been committed.)
Should we assume that Barr’s attorneys found no evidence of voter fraud? His statement is consistent with that assumption.
The president ordered Barr to investigate voter fraud. Apparently there was an investigation and it came up empty. Biden will be sworn in as #46 on January 20.
@Diane
Deo volente.
Trump is one sick mess. This possible pardon means he knows his children and Jared are criminals.
……………………………..
The New York Times
BREAKING NEWS
President Trump is said to have discussed with advisers whether to grant pre-emptive pardons to his three oldest children and Jared Kushner.
Tuesday, December 1, 2020 8:02 PM EST
Mr. Trump has told others that he is concerned that a Biden Justice Department might seek retribution against the president by targeting the oldest three of his five children — Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Ivanka Trump — as well as Ms. Trump’s husband, Mr. Kushner, a White House senior adviser.
The speculation about pardon activity at the White House is churning furiously, underscoring how much the Trump administration has been dominated by investigations and criminal prosecutions of people in the president’s orbit.
The Guardian reported this evening about unsealed court documents in a situation of alleged bribery for pardons (documents date back to August).
Aren’t most Trumps criminals? 🤔😮
The filth of this administration never ends.
……………………
The Washington Post
Alert
News Alert
Dec. 1, 8:43 p.m. EST
Justice Dept. investigated potential ‘bribery-for-pardon’ scheme involving Trump White House in August
The Justice Department this summer and fall investigated a potential “bribery-for-pardon” scheme in which a large political contribution would be offered in exchange for a presidential pardon by the Trump White House, according to court records unsealed Tuesday by Chief U.S. District Judge Beryl A. Howell of Washington.
The documents show that U.S. prosecutors were scrutinizing whether two individuals approached senior Trump White House officials as unregistered lobbyists, and a related scheme in which cash would be funneled through intermediaries for a pardon or reprieve of a sentence for a defendant apparently in U.S. Bureau of Prisons custody at some point. The status of the investigation is unclear.
Intercept headlines, “Unions Say Rahm Emanuel Leading DOT Would be a Betrayal” and,
“For almost every role so far, Biden has chosen someone more progressive and less entrenched with Wall Street than the same official under Obama”.
I don’t want Rahm Emanuel getting any job in the White House. However, I guess if he had to be somewhere, transportation seems like a place where he could do the least harm. I think transportation unions are less likely to be attacked than teachers. There is a lot of infrastructure work to be done, but would they really try to use non-union labor for that? Not sure there is a right wing billionaire funded anti-union PR effort in infrastructure work as there is in education.
Anyone remember Anthony Foxx? (He was Obama’s Sec. of Transportation). I don’t.
Would be happier to see Rahm out of the White House completely, but maybe this keeps him occupied and quiet where he can do no harm?
Rahm should be Ambassador to Burma or Micronesia.
NYPSP:
There is already union resistance to this appointment–there’s that article from Intercept. There are at least 2 petitions out (one started by people in Chicago’s 33rd Ward) against this.
Actually, especially with Covid, Transportation is a BIG issue. & while Rahm was mayor, there was a lot of wheeling & dealing w/the airport concessions: at Midway, there are no McDonald’s or Burger Kings. Most of the new restaurants are more upscale, & it’s hard for families to find inexpensive meals. & then we has a lousy parking meter deal
(actually done by the previous Mayor, Daley) made worse. And don’t get me started with the Ventra cards (public transportation)!
Perhaps no one remembers Anthony Foxx because, perhaps, he didn’t do anything. But–believe you me–Rahm likes his presence to be known. “Never let a crisis go to waste.” We WILL hear from R’s Transportation Dept. Even if we, the people, don’t like what we hear.
Two disgraceful blots on Rahm’s record. He made history by closing 50 public schools in one day, almost all in black neighborhoods. And he covered up the video of the police shooting of teenager Laquan McDonald. The police said it was self-defense but the video showed he was fleeing and was shot 16 times, mostly as he was limp on the ground. The video came out after Rahm was re-elected.
The officer who shot him was convicted of murder and imprisoned. An investigation revealed an elaborate coverup.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/10/10/us/chicago-inspector-general-laquan-mcdonald-shooting/index.html
Emanuel’s first task as Transportation Secretary should be to investigate the feasibility of a space shuttle to Pluto.
Of course, that would mean he would have to take a ride there and back, which would take about two decades.
While on Pluto, he could rahmdezvous with the Plutonians, which would be very useful — for something, probably.
He could also rahmdezvous with his relatives, the Rahmulans, who live not too far from Pluto.
Check out Dana Milbank’s Trump Farewell Address if you haven’t already. Wow!
Gotta go turn on my car. Snow here this morning.
Take care, all!
What is sickening about this is that we have a ‘leader’ who only cares about screaming voter fraud and that he won the election. Nothing is being done to alleviate the increases in confirmed cases and deaths. Trump can’t even be a leader to wear a mask. Why didn’t he warn people to stay home? That should have been repeated many times so that his loyal followers would finally get the message that this virus kills.
………………………..
Wednesday, December 02, 2020 1:00 am
Health official predicting ‘very dark couple of weeks’
US surge expected in hospitals, morgues because of gatherings
Associated Press
Nearly 37,000 Americans died of COVID-19 in November, the most in any month since the dark early days of the pandemic, engulfing families in grief, filling newspaper obituary pages and testing the capacity of morgues, funeral homes and hospitals.
Amid the resurgence, states have begun reopening field hospitals to handle an influx of patients that is pushing health care systems – and their workers – to the breaking point. Hospitals are bringing in mobile morgues. And funerals are being livestreamed or performed as drive-by affairs.
Health officials fear the crisis will be even worse in coming weeks, after many Americans ignored pleas to stay home over Thanksgiving and avoid people who don’t live with them.
“I have no doubt that we’re going to see a climbing death toll; … and that’s a horrific and tragic place to be,” said Josh Michaud, associate director of global health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. “It’s going to be a very dark couple of weeks.”
November’s toll was far lower than the 60,699 recorded in April but perilously close to the next-highest total of almost 42,000 in May, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Deaths had dropped to just over 20,000 in June after states closed many businesses and ordered people to stay at home.
The fast-deteriorating situation is particularly frustrating because vaccine distribution could begin within weeks, Michaud said.
At Mercy Hospital Springfield in Missouri, a mobile morgue that was acquired in 2011 after a tornado ripped through nearby Joplin and killed about 160 people has been put into use again. On Sunday it held two bodies until funeral home workers could arrive.
At the Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, burials are up by about one-third this year compared with last year, and the cremated remains of about 20 people are sitting in storage while their families wait for a safer time to hold memorial services. The dead include a husband and wife in their 80s who succumbed to COVID-19 five days apart.
“You want to be safe at the gravesite so you don’t have to do another graveside service” for another family member, said Richard Lay, Bellefontaine Cemetery’s vice president.
The Star Tribune in Minneapolis-St. Paul saw a 40% increase in the number of pages dedicated to paid obituaries in November, largely because of COVID-19, a spokesman said. By Sunday, the newspaper had 11 pages of obituaries, compared with about half that many on a typical Sunday…
https://journalgazette.net/news/us/20201202/health-official-predicting-very-dark-couple-of-weeks
The Trump White House has a very busy social schedule over next few weeks. Rewarding donors and party bigwigs with a fete in Mar-a-Lago North
The amazing thing is that the Republicans – worried about their political futures – will still publicly bow to puppet Trump as he continues to demean elections, tweet deranged QAnon conspiracies and cater to Russian foreign policy goals. Their obsequious silence is both cowardly and grossly un-American. These are not principled leaders – quite the opposite.
It is a very sad commentary on this country when someone tells the truth and gets death threats. I bet Barr will be treated by Trump lovers the same way.
………………………………..
WaPo:
Christopher Krebs was the director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security. He was dismissed on Nov. 17 after rebutting claims that the 2020 election was hacked.
Since then, he has received threats, but his message remains consistent.
“I am not going to be intimidated by these threats from telling the truth to the American people,” he writes. “The 2020 election was the most secure in U.S. history. This success should be celebrated by all Americans, not undermined in the service of a profoundly un-American goal.”
No fraud Barr one
If BilI were barred
There’d be no fraud
But Bill is not
So fraud is hot
Here is how the far R is responding. There is no link available.
Trump Fires Back At AG Barr After Unforgivable Betrayal
by The Patriotic Times
Attorney General William Barr just claimed that there is no evidence of widespread election fraud – but this Trump Campaign response just destroyed that narrative.
Top Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis issues a joint statement in response to Barr’s claim, saying, “With all due respect to the Attorney General, there hasn’t been any semblance of a Department of Justice investigation.”
They continued, “We have gathered ample evidence of illegal voting in at least six states, which they have not examined. We have many witnesses swearing under oath they saw crimes being committed in connection with voter fraud.”
“As far as we know, not a single one has been interviewed by the DOJ. The Justice Department also hasn’t audited any voting machines or used their subpoena powers to determine the truth.”
“Nonetheless, we will continue our pursuit of the truth through the judicial system and state legislatures, and continue toward the Constitution’s mandate and ensuring that every legal vote is counted and every illegal vote is not. Again, with the greatest respect to the Attorney General, his opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of the substantial irregularities and evidence of systemic fraud.”
The Barr claim of no election fraud was reportedly made during an interview with The Associated Press – a notably left leaning outlet that has a tendency to spin stories in an anti-Trump manner.
According to the outlet, Barr said: “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.”
Barr also reportedly said: “There’s a growing tendency to use the criminal justice system as sort of a default fix-all, and people don’t like something they want the Department of Justice to come in and ‘investigate.’”
It’s possible that this may be public posturing by Barr to maintain credibility as much of the mainstream media has suggested that Barr is too close to the Trump administration in an attempt to discredit any potential DOJ findings.
Barr, who has been mostly silent since Election Day, was seen entering the White House in the afternoon on Tuesday.
The DOJ may be quietly working in the background throughout all of this though as a secret memo sent out by Barr roughly a week after the election was leaked to the public.
In the memo, Barr directed prosecutors “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.”
“Such inquiries and reviews may be conducted if there are clear and apparently credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual State,” he said.
Barr earlier this year said the DOJ was conducting several large voter-fraud investigations.
He also reiterated that he viewed mass mail-in voting as an invitation for voter fraud and coercion.
“We haven’t had the kind of widespread use of mail-in ballots as being proposed,” Barr said. “We’ve had absentee ballots from people who request them from a specific address. Now what we’re talking about is mailing them to everyone on the voter list, when everyone knows those voter lists are inaccurate.”
“This is playing with fire,” Barr said. “We’re a very closely divided country here, and people have to have confidence in the results of the election and the legitimacy of the government. And people trying to change the rules to this methodology—which as a matter of logic is very open to fraud and coercion—is reckless and dangerous.”
Barr lied. On the 1st week after an election, to claim there is no evidence is a fallacious game to play when no investigation has been done. Now, in February 2021, the evidence is thoroughly plain, so that TIME magazine publishes an article admitting there was not only massive fraud, but massive deception of the public as well.
https://onlytheghostsremain.home.blog/2021/02/06/time-magazine-article-brags-about-election-fraud/
If there was “massive fraud,” as you put it, why did Trump legal team lose 60 out of 61 court cases (the one case where they prevailed was about how many poll watchers could be in the counting room and how far they should stand from those doing the counting). Trump’s crack lawyers never produced evidence of fraud.
In a crucial meeting in the White House, lawyer Sidney Powell identified one county in Georgia where she was sure there was voter fraud; another lawyer told her that Trump won that county.
Apparently the nut cases think Trump is going to have his second inauguration on March 4.
…………………………….
Business Insider:
QAnon’s most dedicated followers still believe that former President Donald Trump, who lost the 2020 presidential election, is yet to be sworn in.
March 4, 2021 is a day they have marked in their diaries, insisting that is the date when Trump will be inaugurated in Washington, DC, and, ultimately, return to power.
Coincidentally, Trump International Hotel in Washington, DC is hiking up the prices of suites around that period. The hotel, just blocks away from the White House, has almost tripled the rates for some rooms on the nights of March 3 and 4, according to Forbes.
Right. All a criminal president has to do is resign a few hours before the Senate votes and then go scott free. This is sending a red flag to all future presidents that they can get away with the dirtiest thing they want and there will be no accountability. Great move, Republicans!!
……………….
Opinion | Trump supporters want us to believe the Framers were fools
…As the Senate trial begins, the main argument of Trump’s lawyers — repeated ad nauseam in their written response to the House trial brief — is that their client can no longer be impeached because he is no longer president. “The constitutional provision,” it reads, “requires that a person actually hold office to be impeached.”
The absurdities of this claim abound. The Constitution specifies two possible punishments the Senate can impose upon impeachment conviction: removal from office and disqualification from future office. The second penalty is always and only imposed on former officials, since they have just been removed from their job. And there is nothing in the text of the Constitution that requires the imposition of both punishments in every case.
The Trump team’s version of impeachment would leave the process easily gamed. Why wouldn’t every official facing the likelihood of conviction simply resign from office 10 minutes before the Senate votes? Yes, the official would lose office (by an act of his or her own will). But wouldn’t this make the second punishment — disqualification from future office — impossible to impose?
Think on this a moment. If only current officeholders can be impeached and convicted, only those officials who feel confident of Senate acquittal would choose to remain in office until the vote. The incentive structure of this system would be perverse. As a practical matter, disqualification would be imposed only on officials who think they have a chance at Senate acquittal, decide to risk a vote and then lose. Those who are confident of Senate conviction would always avoid disqualification by strategically resigning. The worst offenders would never face the full range of penalties.
The Constitution is not a perfect document. But are we really expected to believe the Framers created an impeachment process with a hole so large you could ride a buckboard through it?…
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-supporters-want-us-to-believe-the-framers-were-fools/2021/02/08/f6a2c902-6a43-11eb-9f80-3d7646ce1bc0_story.html