By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – A Trump-era U.S. attorney publicly criticized a federal prosecutor who signed a letter criticizing then-AttorneyGeneral Bill Barr’s decision to investigate voting irregularities during the 2020 Presidential Election.

Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz stated that an ex-U.S. attorney made inappropriate comments during a press conference on Thursday about one of his prosecutors.

After Barr had written a controversial memo directing the U.S. to hold a press conference, Barr had written a controversial memo ordering the U.S. to investigate “substantial” claims of irregularities in voting.

Critics argued that this order was illegal because it gave credibility to Donald Trump’s false claims about the election being stolen. This led to the resignation of the head lawyer for the Department at the time who was overseeing investigations into voter fraud.

Barr ultimately concluded that there is no evidence for widespread voter fraud.

A reporter asked U.S. Attorney for details about the letter that was signed and dated by many assistant U.S. AUSA (Attorneys), which includes one from his office.

In response, the U.S. Attorney “sought to undermine the AUSA’s professional reputation by referencing that the spouse of the AUSA who signed the letter had previously worked for two U.S. The report states that Attorneys General in the previous administration” suggested the AUSA was motivated primarily by political motives.

Horowitz concluded that those comments “constituted poor judgement, was unworthy of a U.S. Lawyer or any DOJ leaders, and reflected poorly onto DOJ.”

The letter also went against the internal department guidelines, which advised leadership not to comment negatively on the letter because it was legal protected free speech.

Although the report doesn’t identify the ex-U.S. attorney, it closely matches Scott Brady’s November 2020 press conference.

Brady stated that one of the prosecutors signing the letter was married to Loretta Lynch, former chief of staff to Eric Holder. He had also added his name to “unbeknownst leadership” without speaking to an ethics advisor.

Jones Day attorney Brady could not immediately be reached for comment.