As the midterms approach, the legacy of the 2020 election is shaping the Justice Department’s approach to election administration. Several of its senior leaders have avoided directly acknowledging that Donald Trump lost, instead noting that Joe Biden’s victory was legally certified.
Those officials include Attorney General Todd Blanche, former Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director Kash Patel and Harmeet K. Dhillon, who leads the department’s civil rights division. Each has avoided a yes-or-no answer about the outcome in congressional appearances. During his confirmation process for a federal judgeship last year, former Blanche aide Emil Bove III described the election as an unresolved “political or policy debate.”
The refusal to state plainly that Trump lost has become common among officials seeking to avoid contradicting the president, according to the report. It also reflects a continuing assumption within the department that voter fraud is widespread enough to require a forceful federal response. State election officials and expert analysis have challenged that premise.
Karen Brinson Bell, former executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said the department’s current approach differs from that of previous administrations, whether led by Republicans or Democrats. She pointed to efforts to curtail mail-in voting, an unsuccessful attempt to obtain sensitive voter data from states and threats directed at local officials as initiatives that echo themes Trump raised six years ago.
Sources: The New York Times Politics.