Outgoing Attorney General Bill Barr slaps down Trump on overturning election and Hunter Biden By
Dave Goldiner New York Daily News | Dec 21, 2020
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 Trump’s
frantic efforts to overturn his election loss and to cast doubt of
President-elect Joe Biden’s victory.
Attorney General William Barr speaks during a Monday news conference at the Justice Department. (MICHAEL REYNOLDS/AP)
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 press 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 sees
“no basis” to do that.
In perhaps the biggest blow of all to his soon-to-be ex-boss, Barr said
he won’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 multi-pronged 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.
Barr also broke with Trump by confirming that federal law enforcement
believes Russia was behind the massive cyber-hacking operation 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.