Richard Pilger, a Department of Justice official who oversees investigations of voting crimes, stepped down from his role Monday after Attorney General Bill Barr authorized U.S. attorneys to probe alleged elections fraud, the New York Times first reported.
Why it matters: President Trump has refused to concede the election to President-elect Joe Biden, alleging a conspiracy of widespread voting fraud, but he has yet to provide relevant evidence.
Pilger states to colleagues in an email, also obtained by the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the new DOJ policy is "abrogating the forty-year old Non-Interference Policy for ballot fraud investigation in the period prior to elections becoming certified and uncontested."
For the record: Pilger states, "Having familiarized myself with the new policy and its ramifications … I must regretfully resign from my role as Director of the Election Crimes Branch."
He has been director of the Election Crimes Branch of the Department of Justice since 2010 and will now "move to a nonsupervisory role working on corruption prosecutions," per the NYT.
Of note: Democrats have accused Barr of politicizing his role and of political interference in cases involving Trump associates — claims he strongly denies.
The DOJ did not immediately respond to Axios' request for comment.
Editor's note: This article has been updated with new details throughout.
Ray3142 on November 10th, 2020 at 03:24 UTC »
@PreetBharara:
ugh_this_sucks__ on November 10th, 2020 at 03:07 UTC »
Pretty big piece of context missing here: he demoted himself. Likely this means he sees it’s a farce that will just humiliate the DOJ and wants no part:
https://twitter.com/ktbenner/status/1325988188821786624?s=21
PopSad on November 10th, 2020 at 03:00 UTC »
https://twitter.com/ktbenner/status/1325987873330487297