Durbin Statement On DOJ OIG Report That Found Former Attorney General Bill Barr Violated DOJ Policies When Releasing "Selective Details" In 2020 Pennsylvania Election Fraud Probe

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, today released the following statement regarding the Department of Justice (DOJ) Office of the Inspector General’s (OIG) report that former Attorney General Bill Barr authorized the release of “selective details” about the Luzerene County, Pennsylvania, case that supported former President Trump’s election fraud narratives despite DOJ having details that undermined this information:

“The Attorney General is not the President’s personal attorney. Former Attorney General Barr’s decision to disclose ‘selective details’ of an ongoing DOJ investigation allowed former President Trump to bolster his false allegations of election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, violating DOJ policy meant to prevent the politicization of investigations and eroding the public’s trust in this institution. 

“I am grateful to President Biden and Attorney General Garland for restoring and protecting the independence and impartiality of the Justice Department’s investigations and prosecutions.  It’s critical that future Administrations ensure that politics and conspiracy theories do not get injected into DOJ investigations. The Judiciary Committee’s Subverting Justice report details the threat to democracy itself that can arise when DOJ’s work is politicized.” 

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