According to a report from the Office of the Inspector General released on July 25th, Donald Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr was directly involved in the release of the Justice Department’s misleading statement, issued on the eve of the 2020 election, suggesting that there was voter fraud in Pennsylvania.
The 76-page report examines the Justice Department’s handling of an investigation into a clutch of nine military ballots that were found in a Luzerne County, Pennsylvania trash bin. The report reveals that Barr alerted then-President Trump to the discovery, and the President then disclosed the matter to the public while being interviewed on the radio.
Trump’s announcement provoked considerable controversy, coming as it did in the midst of his ongoing public statements that the election would be rigged through the use of mail-in ballots. His disclosure also violated normal procedure. With limited exceptions, Justice Department protocols prohibit the public discussion of current investigations before charges are brought. While these prohibitions technically only apply to employees of the Justice Department, the President and his staff normally abide by them.
Federal law enforcement received the report of the discarded ballots on September 18, 2020. Investigators learned that the ballots were discarded by a seasonal employee who appeared to be suffering from a mental disability. The employee was noted by FBI agents, in their September 22 interview, as feeling “horrible” and “remorseful” about the incident. The suspect reportedly was operating under the incorrect assumption that the discarded ballots were fraudulent, and he threw them away without telling his superiors. Investigators concluded that there was not enough evidence to support criminal charges in the matter.
In spite of this, Barr later called US Attorney David Freed to discuss the release of a public statement on the matter.
The Inspector General’s report says that issuing a public statement about an investigation that will not yield charges is almost unheard of. One U.S. Attorney is quoted in the report as saying, “…we just don’t do that.”
