1/6 Hearings: AG Barr Told Trump 'There Is No Evidence Of Voter Fraud In Detroit'

DETROIT — Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr told the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot that he rejected former President Donald Trump's claims that there was election fraud in Detroit during the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election.

In a pre-recorded testimony that aired Monday during the Jan. 6 committee hearings, Barr told officials that Trump "didn't seem to be listening" to him and other Cabinet officials who told him there was no election fraud in Detroit, as the former president continue saying the election was stolen from him.

Barr said Trump raised what he called "the big vote dump" in Detroit, because Trump saw people carrying boxes into the TCF Center at all hours. The boxes were tallies from each of the city's precincts, because city officials counted all votes at the center in Downtown Detroit under the supervision of state Bureau of Election Director Chris Thomas.

"They're moved to the counting stations, so the normal process would involve ballots coming in at all different hours," Barr said in the recorded testimony.

Moreover, Barr also said he told Trump that the former president earned about 5,000 more votes in Detroit in 2020 than in 2016, while President Joe Biden did worst than Hillary Clinton did in 2016.

"I said, 'Did anyone point out to you ... that you did better in Detroit than you did last time? There’s no indication of fraud in Detroit," Barr said he told Trump in the recorded testimony. "I told him the stuff that his people were shoveling out to the public were bullshit, that the claims of fraud were bullshit."

However, the former president continued reiterating unproven claims of election fraud, including the "vote dump" in Detroit and elsewhere. Michigan's certified election results in the 2020 U.S. President Election showed Biden beat Trump 51-48 percent, or by more than 154,000 votes.

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-California also said during Monday's hearings that the Michigan Senate Oversight Committee's 2021 report also found no evidence of election in Detroit. The report was led by Sen. Ed McBroom, R-Vulcan, and also suggested that Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel consider investigating individuals who pushed false claims "to raise money or publicity for their own ends."