DOJ finds no evidence of voter fraud that would change 2020 election outcome

The Department of Justice has not discovered widespread voter fraud in the wake of the 2020 presidential election, US attorney general William Barr has revealed in an interview with the Associated Press.

Following Donald Trump’s nationwide legal campaign to overturn the results of the election, the president’s ally told the AP that “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election.”

His comments follow the announcement of a Justice Department initiative in November to pursue “substantial allegations” of voter fraud before the results of the election were certified, though the president’s campaign and officials within his own administration have not produced any evidence of such fraud existing.

Following the interview’s release, the attorney general appeared at the White House.

The attorney general had previously claimed that mail-in voting "absolutely opens the floodgates to fraud" and suggested foreign governments would file bogus ballots.

Mr Trump continues to insist that the election was rigged against him and refuses to concede to Joe Biden, as battleground states certify their election results and the federal agency responsible for the White House transition begins the process for the president-elect and his incoming administration.

The president’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has mounted a spurious legal bid to challenge the results of the election in battleground states that the president failed to win in 2020, relying on conspiracies and conjecture to argue that illegal acts contributed to his loss – claims that judges have roundly dismissed for lack of evidence.

Among claims amplified by attorney Sidney Powell – who has been removed from the legal team – and right-wing media outlets is a conspiracy alleging a Democratic plot to “rig” the election with false ballots cast and election software engineered by late Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, who died in 2013.

AG Barr told the AP that the Justice Department has not found anything to substantiate claims that “machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results."

On Monday, Mr Giuliani appeared in Phoenix, Arizona for a five-hour-long meeting with a group of Republican lawmakers to allege fraud and other conspiracies, claims he also alleged in a meeting with GOP legislators in Pennsylvania last week.

Federal law enforcement has dismissed claims of widespread voter fraud in the US. In September, FBI director Christopher Wray testified to the Senate homeland security committee that the agency had "not seen, historically, any kind of coordinated national voter fraud effort in a major election, whether it's by mail or otherwise."

In a statement, Mr Giuliani dismissed the attorney general’s comments and said that there “hasn’t been any semblance of an investigation” and that his “evidence” of “illegal voting” in six states has not been examined by the Justice Department.

“His opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of the substantial irregularities and evidence of systemic fraud,” he said.