Wisconsin mentioned in Jan. 6 Capitol attack hearings

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Donald Trump's former attorney general called the 2020 election fraud allegations "complete nonsense" as the House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol attack played clips of their interviews with William Barr Monday, June 13. 

Wisconsin is one of a handful of battleground states that determined who won the White House, and after a partial recount, random audits and several lawsuits in federal and state court, the results stayed the same. Joe Biden won Wisconsin by roughly 20,000 votes.

Despite that, the former president falsely claimed he won. Barr said his Department of Justice investigated claims of election fraud.

Former United States Attorney General William Barr appears on screen during a House Select Committee hearing to Investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, in the Cannon House Office Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. (Photo by MANDE

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"The early claims I understood were completely bogus and silly and usually based on complete misinformation," said Barr. "I told him that the stuff that his people were shoveling out to the public was bullshit, that the claims of fraud were bullshit."

That includes then-President Trump's claims without evidence that Dominion voting machines were switching votes.

"I reiterated that they wasted a whole month on these claims on the Dominion voting machines, and they were idiotic claims," said Barr.

In Wisconsin, some counties use Dominion. Milwaukee does not, nor does Dane. They are the two counties where Trump requested a recount.

In counties that do use Dominion, Trump won 59%. 

A video of former President Donald Trump speaking is shown on a screen as the House select committee tasked with investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol hold a hearing on Capitol Hill on June 13, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by JABIN BOTSF

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Wisconsin does random audits after each general election. They have to hand count each ballot twice by two different people. Those results stayed the same with no evidence of vote switching.

"It was crazy stuff, and they were wasting their time on that and it was doing a great, grave disserve to the country," said Barr.

Another issue brought up was this comment from the former president:

"This election was over, and then they did dumps, they call them dumps, big, massive dumps in Michigan, Pennsylvania and all over," said Trump.

In Wisconsin, those absentee ballots can't be counted until Election Day and take a lot longer to open and count, and more Democrats said they'd vote absentee so when Democratic-leaning Milwaukee finished counting, it boosted Biden.

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 6: Trump supporters clash with police and security forces as people try to storm the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC. - Demonstrators breeched security and entered the Capitol as Congress debated the 2020 pres

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"Right out of the box on Election Night, the president claimed that there was major fraud underway," said Barr. "I mean, this happened, as far as I can tell, before there was actually any potential of looking at evidence, and it seemed to be based on the dynamic that at the end of the evening, a lot of Democratic votes came in which changed the vote counts in certain states and that seemed to be the basis for this broad claim that there was major fraud. If he really believes this stuff, he has lost contact. He’s become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff."

Trump still did better in Milwaukee in 2020 than he did in 2016.

What's at stake in these hearings is confidence in our democracy. A Marquette University Law School nationwide poll in May found three-fourths of Republicans doubt the election while 90% of Democrats are confident in the results.

The committee Monday offered a behind-the-scenes look at Trump advisors, including his own family saying they should wait until the votes were counted before declaring victory, but he did declare victory, falsely, on Election Night.