Former President Donald Trump said Saturday that states should fight back against what he called the Biden Justice Department’s efforts to whitewash “massive voter fraud” in the 2020 presidential election.
Referring to Attorney General Merrick Garland’s announcement Friday that he’s doubling the Justice Department’s voting rights enforcement staff to combat state efforts to restrict ballot access, Mr. Trump said the move “should not be an attempt by the Biden administration to suppress the accountability of a dishonest election.”
“That cannot be allowed to happen, nor can the events of the presidential election,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “They want to cancel anything having to do with the result of that election because they know what was done. States cannot allow that to happen and should not be intimidated or suppressed by a government that wants nothing further to do with what took place during that period of time.”
Mr. Garland said the Justice Department must rededicate its resources “to a critical part of its original mission: Enforcing federal law to protect the franchise of all eligible voters.”
“Where we see violations, we will not hesitate to act,” he told agency employees.
Mr. Trump said the department should devote its resources to investigating how the election was stolen from him.
“Whether it be voting machines, underaged people, dead people, illegal aliens, ballot drops, ballot cheating, absentee ballots, post office delivery (or lack thereof!), lock boxes, people being paid to vote, or other things, the 2020 Presidential Election is, in my mind, the Crime of the Century,” he said. “If there is going to be honor and greatness for America, the voting irregularities and fraud of that election must be brought to light, immediately.”
Mr. Garland said additional attorneys to be hired over the next 30 days will scrutinize new state laws and existing practices for possible discrimination against voters of color, including in new election-integrity measures sponsored by Republican state legislators.
He also said the beefed-up team will monitor post-election audits being called for in various states by supporters of Mr. Trump.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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