Bill Barr disputes Trump's claim that he ordered federal prosecutor not to investigate bogus fraud claim

Former attorney general William Barr knocked down election fraud claims by ex-president Donald Trump and a former federal prosecutor in Pennsylvania.

The twice-impeached one-term president issued a statement this week declaring that former U.S. Attorney William McSwain was blocked from investigating alleged election tampering, which the prosecutor-turned-Republican gubernatorial candidate blamed on Barr -- who then denied the pair's accusations, reported Politico.

"U.S. Attorney from the Eastern District of Pennsylvania was precluded from investigating election fraud allegations. Outrageous!" Trump said in a statement.

"[McSwain's letter] written to make it seem like I gave him a directive," Barr told the website. "I never told him not to investigate anything."

Trump's statement was accompanied by a two-page letter from McSwain seeking the former president's endorsement, but Barr told Politico the claims were nonsense.

"It's very cutely written," Barr said. "He said he was going to try to thread the needle. … He said to me he didn't want to say anything that would advance the president's stolen election narrative, but by the same token he was going to try to thread the needle by saying some things that were literally, technically accurate."

The former attorney general, who resigned shortly before Trump's term ended, said he cautioned McSwain not to take that approach, although he had himself authorized all U.S. Attorneys to investigate possible ballot fraud and vote counting irregularities.

"I said, 'But you're trying to give the impression these things were not adequately or fully investigated,'" Barr said.

McSwain has told associates that his letter refers to a complaint by Navy veteran Gregory Stenstrom that 47 USB drives went missing in Delaware County, but local officials insisted the devices were used for programming voting machines and did not contain any votes.