Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event in Manchester, New Hampshire, on April 27, 2023
AFP

KEY POINTS

  • The Justice Department subpoenaed the firm to look into its findings
  • Trump's campaign hired the firm to look into his fraud claims in the election
  • Trump's spokesman said that this is nothing but a witch hunt

The firm former President Donald Trump's campaign team quietly tapped to investigate the 2020 Presidential Elections did not find any evidence of voter fraud.

Simpatico Software Systems looked into dozens of voter fraud claims and conspiracy theories that Trump alleged. They were all "false," said Ken Block, the firm's founder, according to a report by the Washington Post.

Block was recently questioned by the Justice Department about the findings of his firm. He said that every fraud claim he was asked to investigate was untrue.

"No substantive voter fraud was uncovered in my investigations looking for it, nor was I able to confirm any of the outside claims of voter fraud that I was asked to look at," Block said.

He said he recently received a subpoena from the office of special counsel Jack Smith and met with federal prosecutors in Washington. However, he did not detail his interactions with him but said he sent his firm's findings to the Trump campaign in late 2020.

"I just don't believe it's appropriate at this point to discuss anything related to the grand jury process," he said.

Block said that although he never met with Trump in the White House, he sent his findings to his campaign team. He also said that he prepared his findings for each of his claims.

Consequently, federal prosecutors recently interviewed employees from Berkeley Research Group, another firm Trump paid to investigate the 2020 elections. The company's 29-page report likewise contradicted the former president's and his advisers' claims that there were several dead voters and cases of fraud in the conduct of elections in Georgia and Nevada, three sources familiar with the issue told the Washington Post.

Federal prosecutors subpoenaed employees of the firm as well as documentary records where they learned that top Trump aides were given the report, and Trump was also briefed on the report by Berkeley's employees themselves.

The report also mentioned that Berkeley's employees told the Justice Department that White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, other top administration, and Trump campaign officials were made aware of the findings of Berkeley's research, sources also told the outlet.

When reached by the Post, a lawyer for the Berkeley Research Group and a spokesman for the special counsel's office both declined to comment. However, Trump's spokesman issued a statement directly addressing the matter at hand.

"This is nothing more than a targeted, politically motivated witch hunt against President Trump concocted to try and prevent the American people from returning him to the White House," Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said.

"Just like all the other fake hoaxes thrown at President Trump, this corrupt effort will also fail."

Records showed that Block had said he was paid $750,000 for the research since it required "expensive data analytics," while Berkeley Research Group was paid more than $600,000 through a subsidiary.

Ex-US president Donald Trump, pictured in Indiana on April 14 2023, claims he is the victim of a "witch hunt"
Ex-US president Donald Trump, pictured in Indiana on April 14 2023, claims he is the victim of a "witch hunt" AFP