The Justice Department claimed the authority to send armed federal officers to ballot-counting locations in an email sent early Wednesday morning to federal prosecutors around the country, The New York Times reports. The law prohibits the federal government from deploying armed guards to places where votes are cast. However, Richard Donaghue, a principal assistant deputy attorney general at the agency, wrote around 1:30 a.m. Wednesday that the law “does not prevent armed federal law enforcement persons from responding to, investigate, or prevent federal crimes at closed polling places or at other locations where votes are being counted.” President Donald Trump has called for all vote counting to stop in Pennsylvania and other swing states still tabulating votes.
