Good morning. 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."
Despite the caveats, the memo marked a step into President Donald Trump's disinformation campaign about voting. Former DOJ officials criticized the memo as partisan and as validating Trump's claims that there are substantial voter irregularities. Republican and Democratic election officials agree there has been no evidence of widespread, even low-level, voting irregularities.
Shortly after the memo was released, Richard Pilger, head of the DOJ's election crimes branch, stepped down from that role in protest over Barr's memo.
Sen. Mitch McConnell emphasized that Trump is within his rights to challenge the results.No evidence of fraud have materialized.
Trump's lawsuits over the election have mostly failed. Here's what his legal team has tried.
Gov. Tim Walz is expected to announce new restrictions on gatherings as COVID-19 cases break records across the state. | 