As Attorney General of the United States, Bill Barr is the top law enforcement officer in the country, and as such he should be familiar with what constitutes a crime, whether it takes place at the federal or state level.
And yet, when he was interviewed by CNN host Wolf Blitzer this week and asked about dubious claims made by President Donald Trump that there’s massive voter fraud when people cast their ballot via the U.S. mail, he pretended not to know whether or not it’s a crime to vote twice, remarking:
“I don’t know what the law in the particular state says, and when that vote becomes final.”
Who doesn’t know that voting twice is illegal in all 50 states and U.S. territories? Shouldn’t the attorney general know? Of course he should!
Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) found Barr’s comments just as absurd as the rest of us, and he decided he’d write the attorney general a letter on the matter.
Turns out Lieu — who served served as a military prosecutor in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General’s Corps — only needed one sentence to make his point about Barr’s clearly deficient legal knowledge:
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
Trolling level: Expert.
Others on social media also had some thoughts on the matter:
This is sort of hilarious: https://t.co/eMjqNOCNN5
— Garrett M. Graff (@vermontgmg) September 3, 2020
Shouldn’t Bill Barr be the ultimate authority on the law? Think everybody knows it’s illegal to vote twice. Who says those things? This is super scary. We are I immune to all the illegal things Drump does & says. Who’s going to address these crimes?#TrumpIsACriminal
— Sofida (@m16239678) September 4, 2020
With all due respect, it would have had greater impact on #DisBarr if you had printed the letter on a triple cheeseburger wrapper.
— seaver15 (@seaver_15) September 3, 2020
It seems to me that the Attorney General should be better acquainted with the law. Not knowing about this very basic law should disqualify him from holding his current office. I knew about the law. Does that make me better qualified for his job than he is? I could use a raise.
— Nancy Beigel (@NancyBeigel) September 3, 2020
Maybe you should have sent some salve with that …. pic.twitter.com/ZeBjM6zI69
— DobbytheHouseElf (fan) (@Dobby201765) September 3, 2020