Yesterday, we asked whether McSwain was trying to fool Trump or Pennsylvanians — turns out he was lying to everyone.
PENNSYLVANIA — As soon as Donald Trump released Bill McSwain’s misleading love letter, it was clear McSwain was trying to fool someone — the real question was who. Well now we know: after a day of dodging questions and harsh criticism from Bill Barr, Republican political operatives, and former Justice Department officials, it turns out McSwain was lying to everyone.
In his letter to Trump — written months after he left office — McSwain mentioned for the first time that he received “various” allegations of wrongdoing, before asking for Trump’s endorsement and telling Trump, “I hope to see you soon.” But according to Bill Barr, that was all a ruse to get Trump’s endorsement — McSwain told Barr that “to have a viable candidacy he couldn’t have Trump attacking him,” so he wanted to “thread the needle” without “say[ing] anything that would advance the president’s stolen election narrative.”
McSwain also claimed that he was instructed to send any serious allegations of fraud to Attorney General Josh Shapiro, but AG Shapiro’s office “received no direct referrals” and McSwain’s letter to Trump was the first time they had heard about those allegations. McSwain says he “was trained to follow the chain of command and to respect the orders of my superiors,” but clearly he did neither — instead, he tried to fool everyone, from Donald Trump to Pennsylvania voters.
“Bill McSwain strayed so far from the truth that he found a way to mislead everyone at the same time,” said Pennsylvania Democratic Party spokesman Brendan Welch. “McSwain tried to fool Donald Trump to get his endorsement, and he tried to fool Pennsylvanians into thinking he would do his job.”
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