President Donald Trump encouraged supporters in North Carolina this week to vote by mail and then attempt to vote in person in the Presidential election.
Trump claimed it would be a good way to test the system.
Shortly after Trump's comments, CNN's Wolf Blitzer interviewed Attorney General William Barr. When Blitzer asked Barr to confirm that voting twice is illegal, Barr dodged the question before claiming ignorance.
Watch below.
This is a video of a journalist explaining to the U.S. attorney general that it's illegal to vote twice and the attorney general doesn't seem to know that. So...um...this should be a lead story every day. pic.twitter.com/dn9A1wAtyU
— Mike Birbiglia (@birbigs) September 3, 2020
Barr appeared confused when Blitzer asked him if he thought it was legal in some states to vote twice:
"I don't know what the law in that particular state says...There are some that maybe you can change your vote up to a particular term. Why are you asking me what he's saying?"
People were disturbed at Barr's apparent ignorance, but Congressman Ted Lieu (D-CA) threw him a sarcastic lifeline in a damningly brief letter.
The Attorney General of the United States is ignorant of basic voting laws. So today I sent Bill Barr an official one-sentence letter to educate him.
cc:@TheJusticeDept pic.twitter.com/OkniCvNfDd
— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) September 3, 2020
In a tweet tagging the Justice Department, Lieu wrote to Attorney General Barr in giant letters:
"Federal law prohibits voting twice in the same election.
52 USC § 10307"
Twitter users echoed Lieu's response.
This —> https://t.co/o90gEAoW1m
— Brad Wyman (@bradwyman) September 4, 2020
William Barr will go down in history as a mob attorney https://t.co/KDSYkqfthQ
— Blue Berry 🌊 (@BlueBerryTweet) September 4, 2020
Exactly. https://t.co/1ypocagqjq
— Gale Anne Hurd (@GunnerGale) September 3, 2020
We sure do love a good education. https://t.co/0kB35gTR1N
— Teachers for Biden 🍎 (@TeachForBiden) September 3, 2020
Hey @realDonaldTrump - just FYI. So you're all about law and order but you encourage people to break the law, and your AG doesn't even know that it's a violation of the law.
Exactly what laws do you actually support? https://t.co/8I72fCaru4
— Steve (@BroomallSteve) September 4, 2020
If anyone needs reminding https://t.co/fyE0uOLIyr
— Mike Hanna (@mjahanna) September 4, 2020
Lieu wasn't the only one who found Barr's confusion staggering.
this is batsh*t crazy. https://t.co/JvxML1OIW0
— Steven Spencer (@sspencer_smb) September 2, 2020
Open fascism. Not even trying to hide it. https://t.co/XYzbq0FR3O
— CΘMMΘN ΞNΞMY©️ (@CommonEnemyInc) September 3, 2020
So this is “law and order" according to the attorney general of the United States. What have we become? https://t.co/w0OsPRBHrl
— Sam Wineburg (@samwineburg) September 3, 2020
It's either shameless or moronic. Either way, it's unflattering to the American people. https://t.co/pbdJ2zy0wY
— Ethan Wolf (@ewolf_7) September 2, 2020
#WilliamBarr says he isn't sure if it's illegal to vote twice. How low can this administration go? If you vote for these despicable ppl, then you don't care abt “Law and Order" https://t.co/S7AcA4lYDj
— Sue Bongiovi (@SueBongiovi) September 3, 2020
Unlike the Attorney General, the North Carolina Board of Elections unequivocally stated that it's illegal to vote twice.
@PreetBharara/X
@RepBrendanBoyle/X
@twesq/Bluesky
@christopherharris/Bluesky
@evangelinewarren/X
@FrankC164/X
AMC