About two-dozen House Republicans are calling on President Donald Trump to direct Attorney General William Barr to appoint a special counsel to investigate election integrity in light of fraud allegations made by President Donald Trump following the Nov. 3 contest.
About 26 Republican lawmakers signed off on a letter sent by Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) that seeks “to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate election irregularities,” he wrote on Wednesday.
“Following widespread support from my House Republican colleagues, I am again requesting that you direct Attorney General Barr to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate irregularities in the 2020 election,” their letter began. “The American people deserve a definitive resolution to the uncertainty hovering over the outcome of our election, but legitimate questions of voter fraud remain unanswered,” it continued.
Gooden’s letter then decries Barr and the Department of Justice (DOJ) for not taking sufficient action following allegations of fraud or irregularities. Last month, Barr said he authorized federal prosecutors to investigate the election.
But last week, the attorney general reportedly told The Associated Press: “To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.”
Barr also reportedly said: “There’s a growing tendency to use the criminal justice system as sort of a default fix-all, and people don’t like something they want the Department of Justice to come in and ‘investigate.’”
Attorney General William Barr speaks in St. Louis, Mo., on Oct. 15, 2020. (Jeff Roberson/AP Photo)
A spokesperson for the DOJ later said that news outlets “incorrectly reported that the DOJ has concluded its investigation of election fraud and announced an affirmative finding of no fraud in the election. That is not what the Associated Press reported nor what the Attorney General stated.”
But despite the DOJ’s statement, it’s not sufficient, Gooden suggested.
“The Department of Justice has been asked on multiple occasions to launch an investigation into this matter, but inaction from the Department along with public comments made by the Attorney General indicate a lack of willingness to investigate the irregularities your campaign and other elected officials across the nation have alleged,” Gooden said, making reference to the AP report.
Meanwhile, Barr appointed U.S. Attorney John Durham to special counsel status to investigate the origins of the 2016 Russia probe. But Gooden noted that Barr has not made the same overtures toward a voter fraud investigation.
“The appointment of a Special Counsel would establish a team of investigators whose sole responsibility is to uncover the truth and provide the certainty America needs,” Gooden wrote.
