The Department of Justice admitted on Thursday that Attorney General Bill Barr’s description of a case that he claimed to be proof of mass election fraud via mail-in ballots was incorrect.
“Prior to his interview, the Attorney General was provided a memo prepared within the Department that contained an inaccurate summary about the case which he relied upon when using the case as an example,” DOJ spokesperson Kerri Kupec told the Washington Post.
During an interview with CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer on Wednesday, Barr defended his and President Donald Trump’s false claim that voting by mail leads to widespread election fraud by citing a case in Texas led by the Dallas County district attorney in 2017.
“For example, we indicted someone in Texas. 1,700 ballots collected from people who could vote, he made them out and voted for the person he wanted to,” the Trump official told Blitzer.
But Andy Chatham, the assistant district attorney who worked on the case told the Post “that’s not what happened at all.”
“We didn’t find any evidence of widespread voter fraud, and instead the ballots that were returned were consistent with the voter’s choice,” Chatham said.
Another top prosecutor in the case, Mike Snipes, told the Post that the office had believed there were “potentially 1,700 fraudulent ballots” at first, “but we did not uncover that, at all.”
Chatham slammed Barr over his claims about the case.
“Unfortunately, it speaks volumes to the credibility of Attorney General Barr when he submits half-truths and alternative facts as clear evidence of voter fraud without having so much as even contacted me or the district attorney’s office for an understanding of the events that actually occurred,” Chatham told the Post.
