(WASHINGTON) — A Justice Department watchdog on Thursday found that former Attorney General Bill Barr and a Trump-appointed former U.S. Attorney ran afoul of Justice Department policy in their “unusual” handling of a criminal investigation of mail-in ballots during the 2020 election.
Trump later amplified the investigation to support his baseless claims of widespread voter fraud.
In an 82-page report, DOJ Inspector General Michael Horowitz was highly critical of the steps taken by Barr and former U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Pennsylvania David Freed to amplify the otherwise-minor incident involving discarded ballots.
DOJ officials quickly determined the incident was likely a mistake by a mentally-impaired individual, however, those details they refused to make public until well after the election, the report said.
Horowitz also specifically noted he was “troubled” by the way Barr personally briefed Trump on the matter before public details of the investigation had come to light.
While Horowitz ultimately didn’t conclude either Barr or Freed engaged in “misconduct,” he used the report to urge the DOJ to implement a series of reforms that would clarify and tighten certain policies related to the issuing of public statements surrounding criminal investigations as well as contacts with the White House.
The investigation centered on an incident in September 2020, where the FBI had been told by the District Attorney’s Office in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, about an employee of a local elections office who allegedly discarded nine mail-in ballots.
Days after the matter was referred to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Freed issued a public statement on the investigation that stated all nine ballots were cast for Trump, only to later issue a corrected statement that stated seven were cast for Trump while the other two were unknown.
Additionally, Freed’s office took the unusual step of making public a letter he had sent to the Luzerne County Board of Elections that provided additional information on the early stages of their investigation that suggested potential criminal culpability by the individual who discarded the ballots.
“The selective details about the investigation included in the initial MDPA statement and the letter suggested that the actions of the individual who engaged in the conduct were intentional and likely chargeable criminally,” the report states.
“However, even at that early stage of the investigation, Department leadership was aware of information that substantially undercut this narrative—including that the subject of the investigation was mentally impaired, appeared to have discarded the ballots by mistake, and would likely not be criminally charged,” the report added.
And while DOJ quickly determined prior to Election Day that no charges were warranted in the matter, the office declined to issue a statement until Jan. 15, 2021, weeks after Freed resigned from office.
The IG’s investigation found Barr was “personally involved” in the events, and that he “encouraged and authorized” Freed to issue the initial statement that mentioned the ballots were cast for Trump.
“Our investigation also found that Barr briefed President Trump about the Luzerne County investigation the day before the statements were issued and specifically disclosed to the President that the recovered ballots were “marked for Trump,” information that was not public at that time and that Trump revealed on a national radio show the next morning,” the report states.
“Other than Freed and the OPA Director, nearly every DOJ lawyer we interviewed— both career employees and Trump Administration political appointees—emphasized how ‘unusual’ it would be for the Department to issue a public statement containing details about an ongoing criminal investigation, particularly before any charges are filed.”
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