Barr Wades Into Trump’s False Voting Claims, Allowing Prosecutors To Investigate

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other high-ranking Republicans have thus far not broken with President Trump on his unfounded claims of widespread voter fraud.

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Updated at 10:59 p.m. ET

William Barr, the nation’s attorney general and a Trump ally, on Monday wrote a memo authorizing federal prosecutors to pursue any “substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities.” He specified that such reviews can be conducted only if there are “clear and apparently-credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potential impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual State.”

Investigations into more minor claims that, if true, would not affect the outcome of a state’s results, Barr wrote, should be deferred until after the election certification process is completed in mid-December.