President Donald Trump says the Department of Justice (DOJ) is “missing in action” on looking into alleged election fraud.
“Missing in action. Can’t tell you where they are,” he said.
“Why isn’t the FBI involved?“ he asked. ”They’re not. And it’s a terrible thing for our country.” Election fraud “is the biggest thing you could be looking at.”
“This is total fraud. And how the FBI, and Department of Justice—I don’t know, maybe they’re involved—but how people are allowed to get away with this is stuff is unbelievable. This election was rigged. This election was a total fraud,” he said.
The president then went on to say that investigations into former FBI Director James Comey, former FBI Assistant Director Andrew McCabe, and other Obama-era officials resulted in little action being taken by the FBI or DOJ. He also questioned why U.S. Attorney John Durham’s report hasn’t yet been released.
“All I can say, is: With all of the fraud that’s taken place, nobody has come to me and said, ‘Oh, the FBI has nabbed the people that are doing this scheme,’” Trump later stated.
Several days after the Nov. 3 election, Attorney General William Barr wrote that he authorized federal investigators to probe alleged election fraud.
“Such inquiries and reviews may be conducted if there are clear and apparently credible allegations of irregularities that, if true, could potentially impact the outcome of a federal election in an individual State,” his memo reads.
But since then, there has been no word from Barr or the DOJ about any potential investigations.
In the Fox interview, Trump said he has asked the law enforcement agencies about their investigations into fraud and that “everyone says yes, they’re looking at it,” but nothing more. “I said I’ll stay out of it. I wish I didn’t make that statement. There’s no reason really why I have to.”
Later, Trump accused mainstream news outlets and social media companies of ignoring or censoring what he or his legal team have said in recent days.
“They make it like we don’t have evidence. We have evidence all over the place,” Trump said on Nov. 29, pointing to hundreds of sworn affidavits from people who claimed irregularities or fraud.
Secretaries of state in several states have denied there was any fraud or irregularities that would be enough to overturn the election.
Trump also said that it’s unlikely he will concede.
“It’s not like you’re going to change my mind. In other words, my mind will not change in six months,” he said.
