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The US Attorney General has confirmed he’s found no evidence of fraud so far in the 2020 US presidential election.
William Barr said his justice department has found no proof to support president Donald Trump’s claims of fraud. “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” Barr said [via BBC News].
Barr is considered to be close ally of the president, which makes his admission even more significant.
President-elect Joe Biden defeated the incumbent president by 306 to 232 votes in the US electoral college. In the popular vote, Biden won at least 6.2 million more votes than Trump.
But Trump has not yet conceded defeat. His administration has continued to file multiple lawsuits alleging fraud since the results began trickling in during the week of November 3.
A Department of Justice (DOJ) spokesperson added that the department had not concluded its investigation and would continue to “receive and vigorously pursue all specific and credible allegations of fraud as expeditiously as possible”.
In October, Barr issued an order to US attorneys allowing them to pursue any “substantial allegations” of voting irregularities before the 2020 presidential election was certified.
“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,'” Barr told AP.
Trump’s campaign lawyers Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis said in a joint statement: “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 DOJ news comes days after Trump confirmed he will exit the White House in January if the electoral college makes Biden’s election victory official. In a departure from his refusal to concede so far, the incumbent US president said he would “certainly” leave his position in the event of a settled win for Biden.
Meanwhile, the US election 2020 infiltrated much of pop culture in recent months. Earlier this week, YouTuber Lars von Retriever produced a new mash-up video that sees Joe Biden take lead vocals for Metallica‘s 1997 single ‘King Nothing’. And NME columnist Mark Beaumont did a deep-dive into the meanings behind the politician’s election campaign’s song choices.
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