WASHINGTON — The Justice Division informed federal prosecutors in an e mail early on Wednesday that the legislation allowed them to ship armed fede
WASHINGTON — The Justice Division informed federal prosecutors in an e mail early on Wednesday that the legislation allowed them to ship armed federal officers to ballot-counting areas across the nation to analyze potential voter fraud, in line with three individuals who described the message.
The e-mail created the specter of the federal authorities intimidating native election officers or in any other case intervening in vote tallying amid calls by President Trump to finish the tabulating in states the place he was trailing within the presidential race, former officers stated.
A legislation prohibits the stationing of armed federal officers at polls on Election Day. However a prime official informed prosecutors that the division interpreted the statute to imply that they might ship armed federal officers to polling stations and areas the place ballots had been being counted anytime after that.
The statute “doesn’t stop armed federal legislation enforcement individuals from responding to, examine, or stop federal crimes at closed polling locations or at different areas the place votes are being counted,” the official, Richard P. Donoghue, informed prosecutors in an e mail that he despatched round 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
A Justice Division spokeswoman didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Mr. Donoghue, the No. 2 official within the workplace of the deputy lawyer normal, Jeffrey A. Rosen, despatched his e mail about half an hour earlier than Mr. Trump made reckless claims together with falsely declaring himself the winner of the election and started calling for election officers to cease counting ballots.
“We would like all voting to cease,” Mr. Trump stated on the White Home. He stated, with out providing particulars, that his marketing campaign would “be going to the U.S. Supreme Courtroom” over the election depend. The Trump marketing campaign stated later within the day that it was submitting lawsuits in a number of states, together with Michigan, to halt or protest vote counts.
One state election official vowed to withstand any interference or intimidation efforts by federal officers.
“Elections are a state matter, and we now have authority as state officers over anybody attempting to enter areas the place ballots are being counted,” stated Legal professional Basic Maura Healey of Massachusetts. “Anything is a radical reinterpretation of the legislation. States can deal with elections, and we are going to make sure the folks determine the end result.”
The election has been each uncommon and charged. A historic variety of mail-in ballots, prompted by the pandemic, have slowed the work of native election officers who tally them. And Mr. Trump has for months stoked fears concerning the integrity of the vote and amplified unfounded conspiracy theories that slow-counting states couldn’t be trusted, intensifying his baseless accusations because the depend stretched on previous Election Day and his opponent, Joseph R. Biden Jr., gained an edge in key states.
Legal professional Basic William P. Barr additionally spent the months main as much as Election Day echoing the president’s darkish warnings, claiming with out proof that the wave of mail-in ballots would result in an unprecedented quantity of voter fraud.
He cited one instance of 1,700 falsified ballots that The Washington Publish discovered to be false. A division spokeswoman blamed an inaccurate memo from an aide.
The brand new authorized interpretation about armed officers at vote-counting areas gave the impression to be one other instance of the lawyer normal mirroring Mr. Trump’s public posture, former Justice Division officers stated.
“This looks as if a messaging tactic for the lawyer normal,” stated Vanita Gupta, the performing head of the division’s Civil Rights Division below President Barack Obama. “Lawfully, the Justice Division can’t intrude within the vote depend, enter polling locations or take ballots, even in the midst of an investigation.”
In cases the place the division can safe entry to ballots for any investigation, Ms. Gupta stated that federal legislation allowed legislation enforcement officers to “copy and examine, however that ballots keep within the arms of native election officers.”
Justice Division officers stated this week that they anticipated attorneys for the Trump and Biden campaigns to tackle courtroom challenges associated to the election, and that the Trump administration would have little, if any, function.
Election consultants stated that any effort by the Justice Division to blatantly intrude within the election would instantly immediate authorized challenges. Nonetheless, armed officers arriving at ballot-counting areas even for investigatory functions might intimidate or in any other case disrupt the method, they warned.
“The very robust, longstanding norm is that the federal authorities doesn’t search to do something to intrude with a state’s capacity to depend votes and certify elections,” stated Kristy Parker, an official within the division’s Civil Rights Division throughout the Obama administration.