The Attorney General contradicted President Trump’s ideas.
Attorney General William Barr said Monday he saw no reason for special counsel to investigate possible fraud in the November election, contradicting an idea put forward by President Donald Trump.
Barr, who will step down on Wednesday, said, “If I thought a special counsel was appropriate, I would name one, and I don’t have one.”
“I said there was not enough fraud to influence the election and I am lagging behind,” he said, noting what he said in an AP interview shortly before telling Trump at a White House meeting that he would step down. .
Barr also said he has no intention of appointing special counsel to investigate President-elect Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, while the president and others considered it.
Barr said he saw no reason whatsoever for the federal government’s seizure of voting machines used in major states, as Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani has suggested.
He did not immediately answer whether the president has the authority to issue that order.
“I don’t see any reason now for the federal government’s seizure of machines, you know, a massive seizure of machines by the federal government,” he said.
Speaking at a Friday meeting with Trump at the White House, a source said Guiliani, attorney Sydney Powell and retired General Michael Flynn were discussing an executive order to seize and investigate voting machines across the country.
Trump invited Powell to consider the possibility of her being appointed special counsel and given a high-level security clearance to investigate the 2020 election. The meeting was highly controversial, sources told ABC News, filled with screams and demands from Powell, who called other Trump aides “quitters” for giving up the fight.
The meeting ended with White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and other Trump lawyers who spoke to the president to make the offer, the sources said. Giuliani, who attended the meeting by phone, was also against the idea, according to sources.
Powell did not respond to ABC News’s request for comment. She was also at the White House on Sunday, but the reason was unclear.
Barr’s candid remarks came when he answered reporters’ questions at an unrelated press conference.
The attorney general was also asked about the potential a president could forgive himself, to which he said he “did not want to express an opinion on constitutional issues.”
Barr was also asked about the SolarWinds cyber hack of major federal agencies and high-profile private companies, saying he agreed with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attributing the hack to the Russians.
“It appears to be the Russians,” Barr said, adding that he can’t say anything more.
Last weekend, President Trump contradicted Pompeo, suggesting that China could be responsible for the hack. He has not spoken out against Russia.
“The cyber hack is much bigger in the fake news media than in reality. I am fully informed and everything is well under control. Russia, Russia and Russia have top priority if anything happens because Lamestream has petrified, mainly for financial reasons.” … discuss the possibility that it could be China (it could!), ” Trump wrote on Twitter.
John Santucci, Katherine Faulders, Matt Mosk, Olivia Rubin and Alexander Mallin from ABC News contributed to this report.