The Justice Department on Friday closed out its investigation into nine discarded ballots whose existence President Trump had repeatedly pointed to as examples of election fraud. The top federal prosecutor in Harrisburg concluded that his team had found “insufficient evidence to prove criminal intent on the part of the person who discarded the ballots.”
“No criminal charges will be filed, and the matter is closed,” said acting U.S. Attorney Bruce Brandler in a statement thanking the department and the FBI for assisting in the investigation.
The investigation, controversial because it began before Election Day, was instigated after Trump mentioned the incident on Fox in September. Investigators soon found that seven of the nine ballots in question were cast for Trump.
The person who discarded the ballots is thought to have a mental disability, according to the Washington Post.
Pennsylvania Secretary of State Kathy Boockvar said in September that the misplaced ballots were “not intentional fraud.”
In commenting on the case in September, Trump referred to the incident as a “horror show.”
“These ballots are a horror show,” Trump told Fox. “They found six ballots in an office yesterday in a garbage can. They were Trump ballots, eight ballots in an office yesterday in, but in a certain state and they were, they had Trump written on it, and they were thrown in a garbage can.”
