A group of federal prosecutors, who were assigned by the Justice Department to enforce federal voting rights laws across the country on Election Day, urged Attorney General William Barr on Friday to rescind his order for prosecutors to examine allegations of voting irregularities before states move to certify the results in the coming weeks, according to an internal letter obtained by CNN.
The letter from the 16 prosecutors comes days after Barr released a memo earlier this week telling prosecutors not involved with the election crimes branch of the Justice Department's Public Integrity Section to skip procedural steps to investigate "substantial" allegations of voter fraud.
"We urge you to rescind it," the prosecutors wrote in bolded type about Barr’s memo.
The bipartisan coalition of federal "District Election Officers" said Barr's marching orders "is not based on fact."
"It was developed and announced without consulting non-partisan career professionals in the field and at the department. Finally, the timing of the memorandum’s release thrusts career prosecutors into partisan politics," the prosecutors wrote.
The letter was co-signed by 16 assistant US attorneys from 15 out of the 44 jurisdictions that were chosen by the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to monitor the Nov. 3 general election.
Kerri Kupec, a spokesperson for the Justice Department, declined to comment on the prosecutors' letter.
Kupec referred to the last paragraph of Barr's memo that said: "Nothing here should be taken as any indication that the Department has concluded that voting irregularities have impacted the outcome of any election. Rather, I provide this authority and guidance to emphasize the need to timely and appropriately address allegations of voting irregularities so that all of the American people, regardless of their preferred candidate or party, can have full confidence in the results of our elections."
Two judges in Pennsylvania on Friday tossed a half dozen court cases the Trump campaign had brought to invalidate thousands of votes around Philadelphia, where voters carried President-elect Joe Biden to a win in the battleground state.
In total, the Trump campaign had sought to throw out almost 9,000 absentee ballots because their outer envelopes lacked a name, date or address, or some combination of the three that voters could have filled out.
In five related cases, Judge James Crumlish of Philadelphia County's Court of Common Pleas said the Trump campaign couldn't invalidate 8,329 ballots it alleged were improper. The judge ruled those ballots should be processed and counted.
In another case, the President's campaign sought for the Montgomery County Board of Elections to throw out 592 mail-in ballots where voters hadn't filled out their address on the outside envelope. Those ballots will be counted, the second judge, Richard Haaz of the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas, ruled on Friday.
Haaz found that state law didn't require voters to fill out the address section on the envelopes, and the instructions on the ballots didn't tell voters they must have filled them out more.
"Voters should not be disenfranchised by reasonably relying upon voting instructions provided by election officials," Haaz wrote.
The Trump campaign had said in court it wasn't alleging voting fraud in the cases, just attempting to enforce the rules.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo today said President Trump's denial of his electoral loss and his refusal to participate in a smooth transition process is "delusion... [and a] dislocation from reality."
"For him not to have the Biden people in an orderly transition is just the height of irresponsibility and narcissism," Cuomo said, speaking with CNN's Wolf Blitzer this afternoon "...It's shameful. He is still in denial. The numbers couldn't be any more clear."
Cuomo's remarks came after Trump attacked him in a news conference earlier in the day and threatened to delay the delivery of any potential vaccine to the Empire State.
Speaking on the CNN's "The Situation Room," Cuomo also denied he is interested in working in the Biden administration, jokingly tell Blitzer he'd recommended him to join the Biden White House.
"I am staying right here," he said. Cuomo's current term as governor ends in January 2023, but he announced late last year he would a seek fourth term in office in the 2022 election.
Former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly issued a statement Friday night lambasting President Trump for not helping with the transition to a new Biden administration.
"The delay in transitioning is an increasing national security and health crisis. It costs the current administration nothing to start to brief Mr. Biden, Ms. Harris, the new chief-of-staff, and all identified cabinet members and senior staff," Kelly said in the written statement.
President-elect Joe Biden met with the co-chairs of his Covid-19 advisory board today and said that based on what he learned, "urgent action" is needed on the part of the current administration.
He renewed his call for Americans to wear masks, socially distance themselves and wash their hands.
"I am the president-elect, but I will not be president until next year," Biden said in a statement. "The crisis does not respect dates on the calendar, it is accelerating right now. Urgent action is needed today, now, by the current administration — starting with an acknowledgment of how serious the current situation is."
"Today, I renew my call for every American, regardless of where they live or who they voted for, to step up and do their part on social distancing, hand washing, and mask wearing to protect themselves and to protect others," he added.
During a news conference this afternoon, President Trump again falsely suggested that coronavirus cases are high because of more testing.
“We test far more than any other country so it shows obviously more cases,” Trump said.
The spike in US coronavirus cases is not being caused by an increase in testing.
Taken together, the numbers tell a consistent story; the situation in the US is genuinely getting worse. Both case and hospitalization figures hit all-time highs on Thursday.
President Trump on Friday inched closer to acknowledging he will not be president after Jan. 20, though stopped well short of recognizing his loss, in vowing his administration wouldn't order new coronavirus lockdowns.
"I will not — this administration will not be doing a lockdown. Hopefully whatever happens in the future — who knows which administration it will be? I guess time will tell — but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown," Trump said in the Rose Garden, his first public remarks in days.
Trump's willingness to suggest there might be a different administration next year is as far as he's gone in recognizing the election results, which he is currently contesting.
While he went no further in publicly saying he would soon be leaving office, Trump did offer an opening.
"This administration will not go, under any circumstances, will not go through a lockdown, but we will be very vigilant. Very careful," he said.
At this rate, the number should pass 11 million in the next four days, making for the fastest addition of another million yet, John Hopkins data show.
President Trump claimed during Friday’s news conference that the Pfizer vaccine was a result of the White House’s Operation Warp Speed, adding that Pfizer’s prior claim that it was not part of the program was an “unfortunate misrepresentation.”
Pfizer, unlike some other pharmaceutical companies, did not accept federal money for research into a coronavirus vaccine. Pfizer, unlike these competitors, is not getting payments up front even before proving its effort has been successful.
Three experts told CNN that this purchase promise may have played an important role in expediting Pfizer's vaccine development process.
President Trump said the federal government won't deliver a possible coronavirus vaccine until the state's governor, Andrew Cuomo, lets the administration "know when he is ready for it."
“As soon as April, the vaccine will be available to the entire general population with the exception of places like New York state, where, for political reasons, the governor decided to say … he wants to take his time on the vaccine,” Trump said.
President Trump's term ends when President-elect Joe Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20.
“That is a very limited distribution mechanism,” Cuomo said, adding that the federal plan does not appear to provide for states to organize vaccination with state personnel on any scale.
Days later after his initial comments, Cuomo said the plan, as explained to him by the White House, involves the military distributing a future Covid-19 vaccine to large chain-pharmacies for distribution, a plan he said would disproportionately limit distribution in communities of color.
Today, Trump said the US government can't deliver the vaccine "to a state that won't be giving it to its people immediately."
"So we won't be delivering it to New York until we have authorization to do so and that pains me to say that," Trump said at an ongoing news conference. "This is a very successful, amazing vaccine at 90% and more, but — so the governor, Gov. Cuomo, will have to let us know when he is ready for it," Trump said.