After the 2020 election, Attorney General William Barr stated that the Justice Department found no evidence of voter fraud that would affect the election outcome.
Posted by The NPR Politics Podcast, Checked
- Sources
- 9 support
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 95%
The NPR Politics PodcastOct 26, 2026
Multiple independent reliable outlets, including AP (the original interview), Reuters/BBC, NPR, NYT, and PBS, report that Attorney General William Barr said on December 1, 2020 that the Justice Department had found no evidence of voter fraud on a scale that could change the 2020 election outcome.
The guest relays this claim without endorsing it. It counts as passed on, not against the post.
What was said
… When I look at this and this is, again, this is providing a kind of composing contrast of the 2026, um, Trump second term Justice Department with the late first term Trump Justice Department and if you think back to after the 2020 election, Attorney General William Barr said, Okay, Mr. President, you want us to look for voter fraud? We'll go look. They took a look, came back, and they said there was nothing here that was going to affect the election. The president did not like that answer, did not like that answer. What we have seen this time, and what we have heard in terms of how the attorney general and the senior leadership of the Justice Department views their relationship with the president, we …
The NPR Politics Podcast · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. In an AP interview published December 1, 2020, Barr said the Justice Department had uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome, quoting: "To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election."[1][3][4][5][6]
Supports. NBC, CNN and ABC report the same December 1, 2020 statement, with Barr adding that DOJ and DHS had looked into the claim that voting machines were rigged and had not substantiated it.[7][8][9]
Supports. A later Reuters fact-check recalls Barr's December 1, 2020 statement that he had not seen evidence of fraud that would have changed the election results.[2]
Context. The sources cover the statement as made on December 1, 2020, not the later interview with Jonathan Karl, which was more pointed. The claim is graded on the December 2020 statement, which the sources confirm.[2]
Sources
9 sources: 2 fact-checkers, 1 tier 1, 5 tier 2, 1 not rated
- 1Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud | AP Newsapnews.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports
- 2Trump's false claims debunked: the 2020 election and Jan. 6 riotreuters.com · fact-checker · cited for: supports, context
- 3US attorney general finds 'no voter fraud that could ...bbc.com · tier 1 · cited for: supports
- 4Barr says Justice Department found no evidence of fraud ...pbs.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 5Barr Acknowledges Justice Dept. Has Found No ...nytimes.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 6Barr: DOJ Has No Evidence Of Fraud Affecting 2020 ...npr.org · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 7Barr says no evidence of widespread voter fraud, defying ...nbcnews.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 8Barr says no evidence of widespread fraud in presidential ...cnn.com · tier 2 · cited for: supports
- 9DOJ hasn't uncovered widespread fraud that would change ...abcnews.com · not rated · cited for: supports
Where this claim was made
Said in 1 published post
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