In this June 21, 2019 file photo, William McSwain speaks with members of the media at a news conference in Philadelphia. McSwain, the former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, announced his campaign for governor of Pennsylvania on Monday, Sept. 13. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
Trump goes after the former US attorney for not getting behind his bogus claims of election fraud.
Just a few days after throwing his weight behind Dr. Oz in Pennsylvania’s US Senate Race, former president Donald Trump is doing the opposite for one of Pennsylvania’s Republican candidates for governor.
Trump issued a statement Tuesday saying he “will not be endorsing Bill McSwain for governor.”
The former president is apparently still unhappy that McSwain — the top federal prosecutor in Philadelphia under Trump — didn’t act on Trump’s unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in Pennsylvania during the 2020 election.
In the statement, Trump labels McSwain a “coward” and suggests the country is going to hell because McSwain wasn’t swayed by his attempts to discredit the election.
McSwain, in a statement released by his campaign, did not address Trump directly but said, “I’m proud of my record as US Attorney.”
“I’ve prosecuted and put people behind bars who committed voter fraud, and put rioters and looters in jail,” McSwain said. “When I’m Governor, we’re going to get back to a voting system that everyone has confidence in.”
McSwain had written to Trump in July, seeking the former president’s endorsement for governor.
Around that time, Trump told the audience at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas that he had a letter from McSwain that claimed that Trump’s attorney general, Bill Barr, would not let McSwain investigate voter fraud in the 2020 election.
Barr denied to The Philadelphia Inquirer that he ordered McSwain not to investigate allegations of election fraud, and said McSwain only made the claim to curry favor with Trump.
State Attorney General Josh Shapiro’s office, at the time, said it has a close working relationship with the US attorney’s office, and had not heard of any concerns from McSwain — or received a direct referral from McSwain’s office.
There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.
McSwain, 52, lives in Chester County and went back to private law practice after more than three years as the US attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, which includes Philadelphia. He had been appointed to the position by Trump.
He also served several years as an assistant US attorney in Philadelphia when George W. Bush was president, and was a platoon commander in the US Marine Corps.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
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