Former Attorney General William Barr
Bill Barr Justice Dept. Blows Mexico’s Decision to Close Former Secretary of Defense Investigation Acting Attorney General condemns Capitol riots, warns ‘no tolerance’ for violence at Biden inauguration Barr, White House adviser told Trump not to self-forgive : Report MORE reportedly greatly reduced President Trump
Donald Trump Iran Convicts US Businessman on Espionage Charge: DC Report, State Capitals See Few Troubles, Heavy Security Amid Protest Concerns Pardon Seekers Paid Trump Allies Tens of Thousands to Lobby President: NYT MORE when discussing the claims, the president circulated that the election had been ‘stolen’ from him.
Barr told the president during a meeting with Trump at the White House in early December that such theories about a stolen election were “bullshit,” Axios reported Monday.
Other aides in the room, including White House adviser Pat Cipollone, were reportedly surprised that the Attorney General had made the comment, although he did not disagree with his comments.
The meeting came when Barr publicly undermined the president’s baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud and told The Associated Press that the Justice Department had found no evidence to support the claims.
“To date, we have not seen any fraud on a scale that could have affected a different election outcome,” Barr had told the AP in the interview.
Trump reportedly confronted Barr with his comments in the private dining room next to the Oval Office.
“Why would you say such a thing? You must hate Trump. There is no other reason for it. You must hate Trump,” said the president, according to Axios.
Barr replied that “these things don’t come true” and “the things these people fill your ear with just aren’t true,” Axios reported. The attorney general reportedly stressed that the DOJ had revised key claims made by the president’s attorneys.
Trump announced nearly two weeks later, on December 14, that Barr would step down from his position in the Trump administration, about a month before the president-elect was due to leave. Joe Biden
Joe Biden Fears of Insider Attack Leads to Additional FBI Screening of National Guard Troops: AP Iran Convicts US Businessman on Espionage Charge: DC Report, State Capitals See Few Trouble, Heavy Security Amid Protest concerns MORE would enter office. Trump praised Barr for doing “an excellent job” and said they had a “very good” relationship.
The president had sharply criticized the attorney general in the run-up to his departure over Barr’s comments on alleged electoral fraud and over reports that Barr was aware of a federal investigation into Biden’s son Hunter Biden months before the election, but did not disclose it. had made. Trump called the attorney general on Twitter “a great disappointment.”
Barr was Trump’s second attorney general confirmed by the Senate and one of his closest allies in the administration. The Attorney General had long been criticized by Democrats and other outside groups for his efforts to defend the president during his nearly two years of leadership of the Justice Department.
Trump and Barr met in mid-December, when the attorney general outlined his decision to step down, Axios reported. The president claimed for weeks that the election was stolen, culminating in his comments at a Jan. 6 White House rally knocking Republicans who planned to vote to certify the Electoral College count shortly before a pro-Trump the Capitol crowd.