Former Attorney General Bill Barr improperly urged a Pennsylvania prosecutor to make public statements about concerns over election security in the 2020 race, the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of Inspector General (OIG) said in a report Thursday.
Barr weighed in on the matter of mail-in ballots discovered in a dumpster in Luzerne County, Pa., contributing to a public statement that included “selective details” about the investigation, the OIG report states.
The investigation found that Barr and U.S. Attorney David Freed erred from department policy by discussing an investigation publicly and misled the public.
“Nearly every DOJ lawyer we interviewed — both career employees and Trump administration political appointees — emphasized how ‘unusual’ it would be for the department to issue a public statement containing details about an ongoing criminal investigation, particularly before any charges are filed,” the report states.
Inspector General Michael Horowitz, however, did not accuse either of misconduct.
Freed’s statement contained specific details about the ballots, including that all the discovered ballots contained votes for former President Trump. Barr reportedly discussed those details with Trump himself, who talked about the case publicly in a radio interview and during his first debate with then-candidate Joe Biden, drawing additional scrutiny.
Horowitz said he was “troubled” that Barr shared details with Trump, but said that decision did not violate department policy.
No charges were ever filed related to the ballots. Investigators concluded that the ballots were accidentally discarded by a poorly trained election employee with mental disabilities, and the votes were ultimately counted.
The report recommends the Justice Department rewrite its policies about how information is shared with the White House. It also urges the Office of Special Counsel to investigate whether Barr or Freed’s actions could have violated the Hatch Act, which bars federal employees from making political statements.