In parting shots, Barr undercuts Trump on key issues AG dismisses idea of appointing special prosecutor on election, probe of Biden’s son
Widespread voter fraud? Nope. A special counsel to probe election irregularities? Nah. Impound voting machines? Not happening.
Hunter Biden’s “laptop from hell”? Yawn.
Attorney General Bill Barr on Monday slapped down President Donald Trump’s frantic efforts to overturn his election loss and to cast doubt of President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Barr, who leaves office Wednesday after abruptly resigning, issued a remarkable series of parting shots at Trump, effectively shooting down the president’s push to keep alive a raft of conspiracy theories about his election loss.
In a swan song news conference, Barr dismissed the idea of appointing a special counsel to investigate unfounded claims of fraud in the presidential election.
Trump is also considering seeking to impound voting machines that were used in Georgia and other swing states that Biden won. Barr said he saw “no basis” to do that.
In perhaps the biggest blow of all to his soon-to-be ex-boss, Barr said he wouldn’t appoint a special counsel to take over the investigation into the taxes of Hunter Biden, the son of the president-elect.
“I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and I have no plan to do so before I leave,” he said.
The multipronged pushback from Barr will surely infuriate Trump, who has been fuming at his hand-picked top law enforcement official for weeks now.
Trump was especially triggered by Barr’s decision to abide by Justice Department guidelines by not revealing the Hunter
Biden probe before the election. The president believes that decision could’ve cost him the election.
Naming a special counsel would make it harder for Biden to shut down investigations once he takes office on Jan. 20. But it’s not clear how it could be done without buy-in from top Justice officials.
Trump may hope to pressure his newly minted acting attorney general, Jeff Rosen, into taking the steps that Barr has refused to do. That would certainly raise major questions about the legitimacy of any actions.
Trump has consulted on special counsels with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and outside allies, according to several Trump administration officials and Republicans close to the White House who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized discuss the matter publicly.
Trump was interested both in a counsel to investigate the younger Biden’s tax dealings and a second to look into election fraud. He even floated the idea of naming attorney Sidney Powell as the counsel — though Powell was booted from Trump’s legal team after she made a series of increasingly wild conspiratorial claims about the election.
Federal law requires that an attorney general appoint any special counsels.
Barr also broke with Trump by confirming that federal law enforcement believes Russia was behind massive cyberhacking targeting the U.S. government.
Trump has downplayed the impact of the hack and deflected blame from Russia and strongman Vladimir Putin, contradicting his own intelligence reports.