the u.s attorney general bill barr has
taken the
unusual step of authorizing federal
prosecutors to investigate possible
irregularities in the presidential
election
his move follows days of attacks on the
election process from donald trump so
far
without any credible evidence meanwhile
u.s president-elect joe biden has
started assembling his team to prepare
for taking over the presidency at the
end of january
david willis reports
joe biden is wasting little time
preparing for his ascent to the white
house
announcing the lineup of a task force to
deal with an issue that could dominate
the
early days of his presidency the
coronavirus
and holding his first call as
president-elect with a foreign leader
canada's prime minister justin trudeau
as that call was taking place donald
trump who since the election result was
announced
has only been seen on the golf course
was firing his defense secretary
mark esper terminating him in the words
of the president
it's thought other high-profile
administration officials
could soon follow mr esper out the door
the president has yet to concede the
election and his team is mounting
legal challenges in multiple states the
top republican in the u.s
congress told lawmakers mr trump was
fully entitled to contest the outcome
the core principle here is not
complicated
in the united states of america all
legal ballots must be counted any
illegal ballots
must not be counted the process should
be transparent
or observable by all sides
and the courts are here to work through
concerns
and after meeting with mitch mcconnell
the attorney general bill barr
announced that the u.s justice
department would be involving itself
in investigations into voter fraud that
as the president set about attacking his
former ally fox news
and other media outlets accusing them of
tampering with the election
by broadcasting polls that he said had
been inaccurate
fox later cut off the white house press
secretary as
she sought to explain donald trump's
refusal to concede
you don't take these positions because
you want an honest election
you don't oppose an audit of the vote
because you want an accurate count
you don't oppose our efforts at sunlight
and transparency because you have
nothing to hide
you take these positions because you are
welcoming fraud and you are welcoming
illegal voting
well i just think we have to be very
clear she's charging
the other side is welcoming fraud and
welcoming illegal voting unless she has
more details to back that up
i can't in good countenance continue
showing you this
it all points to a messy and rancorous
transition period
with less than 10 weeks to go before
inauguration day
david wallace bbc news los angeles
well let's get more on this probe into
alleged voting irregularities now from
shara torres spelling who's professor of
law at stetson university
joining us now from petersburg florida
thank you very much for talking to us on
bbc news today
your reaction first of all to what
william barr
is doing escalating the legal challenges
from state level
to federal level what is this going to
mean for the transition
so the department of justice always has
the ability to look
into allegations of fraud in
federal elections but pardon me
uh so far there is no evidence
of widespread fraud okay and
in fact in this letter to prosecutors
william barr
you know urges uh the idea that you know
they shouldn't be investigating
fanciful claims and doesn't mention any
evidence of irregularities himself
uh a previous guest we spoke to said
that that was just to provide
him with some kind of cover and that in
fact he
is trying to basically enable in his
words
president trump uh to kind of delay
the transition i mean would you agree
with that assessment
trump seems to want to litigate a win
that he couldn't get at the ballot box
um so far the american courts have
dismissed almost all of his cases so
i'm i'm confident in the courts
i am less confident in what attorney
general barr is up to
okay you're confident in the courts does
that mean the supreme court as well
if it was to get to that level i think
so
um number one it may not get to that
level because
the us supreme court has control over
its docket which means that
it doesn't have to take all of its cases
and traditionally
it has turned away 90 to 95 percent
of the cases that ask for cert which is
asking for the supreme court to hear the
case
now joe biden at the moment is is going
about his business in the way one would
expect a president-elect to do
but with donald trump yet to concede and
and these legal challenges continuing
uh how is that actually affecting the
transition compared to what would be
happening
in say more usual circumstances
well there's nothing in the constitution
that requires
the loser to concede but i think it
would be much
better for the country if trump conceded
and it would be
much smoother for the transition
if trump conceded it means though that
the biden harris team
that they're not getting access to
certain federal funding and certain you
know information intelligence
information for example
that they would be expecting to be able
to see right now
yeah it's down to a gsa um
bureaucrat who has not signed a
particular letter
uh in her defense the gsa for anyone who
doesn't know what the gsa is that's the
the general service accounting
administration i think
yes yeah i did i did look that up last
night just to be absolutely sure so
basically that they have to sign
something to say that the transition is
happening
effectively exactly exactly and because
of these ongoing court cases uh
it may not be entirely clear to that
bureaucrat
that we have a clear winner okay
what happens then if this goes on for
quite a few more weeks
we get to the date where the electoral
college meets uh donald trump
potentially
uh is refusing to accept that he has
lost hasn't conceded
there's never been a situation like this
has there so you know
what actually happens is is he
eventually going to vacate the white
house or
is someone close to him perhaps a member
of his family going to persuade him
that that's what he has to do if you
know none of these cases come to
anything and
you know no evidence has been presented
so far
so constitutionally the man who gets
270 electoral college votes will be the
next president
that does not look like it's going to be
donald trump so
whether he concedes or not he cannot
stay in the white house
okay it's going to be very interesting
to watch how the next
few weeks unfold there professor ashara
torres spallacy
from stetson university thank you for
your time