Resignation of DOJ Election Crimes Branch Director on Day of Barr Irregularities Memorandum (US)

Richard Pilger, Director of the DOJ Election Crimes Branch, resigned on November 9, 2020 – the same day AG Barr issued a memorandum authorizing U.S. Attorneys to investigate “substantial allegations of voting and vote tabulation irregularities prior to certification.” Fifteen District Election Officers subsequently wrote AG Barr urging rescission of the memorandum. The combined effect of Pilger’s immediate resignation, the coordinated DEO letter, and AG Barr’s subsequent channeling of Pennsylvania fraud reports to a conflicted partisan state AG (see PA.ERC.NC-002) was that no effective federal DOJ investigation of election irregularities was conducted before the national certification was finalized. Congress received no substantive DOJ election crimes assessment before January 6, 2021.