The 2020 election sparked its fair share of conspiracy theories. One of the loudest? That government officials secretly teamed up with social media to help Joe Biden win, painting the government as a tool against conservatives. But guess what? While there’s no evidence backing that theory, there’s solid proof, uncovered by the House Jan. 6 committee, that some government officials worked overtime to help Donald Trump’s campaign.
Fast forward to this week. A report from the DOJ’s inspector general (IG) added even more fuel to the fire. According to the report, in 2020, certain officials in the DOJ were allegedly investigating Democratic-led states in a way that seemed aimed at influencing the election results. The report suggests that officials were probing how COVID policies in states like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Michigan, which allowed some COVID-positive patients to stay in nursing homes, might have led to more deaths. However, the investigation didn’t quite add up.
Here’s the kicker: these investigations seemed strangely focused on New Jersey and New York, even though other states had similar issues. Emails and witness testimonies revealed that the DOJ announced the investigation publicly just before the election, even though officials didn’t have solid proof or clear answers about whether the policies were still in place or whether they followed federal guidelines. This all came to light through a press release, which some in the DOJ even thought was “inappropriate” and “unusual.”
But it gets even more suspicious. The report details how a senior DOJ official seemed to be orchestrating a plan to leak the investigations to the media. Specifically, the New York Post. A text message from that official said, “I’m trying to get [CRT] and CIV to do letters to [New Jersey/New York] respectively on nursing homes. Would like to package them together and let New York Post break it. Will be our last play on them before election but it’s a big one.”
Here’s the twist – this sounds pretty much like the conspiracy Republicans have been accusing the administration of in relation to media collusion with Biden’s campaign. How ironic, right?
The IG report also suggests that several DOJ staff raised concerns about the investigations, but senior officials made it clear that these moves were coming from the top, including from then-Attorney General Bill Barr, who declined an interview for this investigation. The report indicates that these actions could have violated ethical rules and potentially even laws about using government positions for political purposes.
What does all this mean? It paints a picture of potential election interference, with Trump’s DOJ allegedly targeting Democratic states for bad press as the election neared. Adding fuel to the fire, the Civil Rights Division of the DOJ, which was involved in these actions, could be led by Harmeet Dhillon – a Trump loyalist known for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss.
With the Supreme Court giving Trump the green light to use the DOJ for his personal legal battles, it’s hard to believe these kinds of actions are a thing of the past. Could we see similar attempts at election interference down the road? Only time will tell.
