Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

US Homebuilder Sentiment Dips Back to Lowest Level Since Late 2022

4 hours ago

Wall Street Muted as Investors Focus on Retail Earnings, Jackson Hole Summit

5 hours ago

Trump Vows to Target Mail-in Ballots Ahead of 2026 Midterm Election

5 hours ago

Thousands of Palestinians Leave Gaza City Fearing Israeli Offensive

5 hours ago

What to Know About Russia-US-Ukraine Peace Talks

22 hours ago

Actor Terence Stamp, Star of Superman Films, Dies Aged 87

22 hours ago

Kevin McCarthy, Redistricting Commission’s Popularity Stand in Newsom’s Way

3 days ago

California Man Safe After High-Tech Rescue From Behind Sequoia Waterfall

3 days ago
Barr Undercuts Trump on Election and Hunter Biden Inquiries
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 5 years ago on
December 21, 2020

Share

WASHINGTON — Attorney General William Barr used his final public appearance to undercut President Donald Trump on multiple fronts Monday, saying he saw no reason to appoint a special counsel to look into the president’s claims about the 2020 election or to name one for the tax investigation of President-elect Joe Biden’s son.

In the course of breaking with Trump on matters that have been consuming the president, Barr also reinforced the belief of federal officials that Russia was behind a massive hack of U.S. government agencies, not China as Trump had suggested.

Barr made the comments at a press conference to announce additional criminal charges in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, which killed 190 Americans, an issue he had worked on in his previous stint as attorney general in the early 1990s. He chose the announcement, in a case very personal and important to him, for his last public appearance, then took questions.

Barr said the Justice Department’s existing investigation into Hunter Biden’s financial dealings was “being handled responsibly and professionally.”

“I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and I have no plan to do so before I leave,” he said. Nor for election fraud, he said.

Barr had been in lockstep with the president during much of his tenure as Trump’s attorney general. But Trump, as he has done with many others in his inner circle, started criticizing Barr publicly. He was particularly angry that Barr didn’t announce the existence of a two-year-old investigation of Hunter Biden.

And shortly before he announced his resignation, Barr told The Associated Press that he had seen no evidence of widespread voting fraud, despite Trump’s claims to the contrary. Trump has continued to push baseless claims even after the Electoral College made Biden’s victory formal Dec. 14.

A special counsel would make it more difficult for the incoming attorney general and president to close investigations begun under Trump. Doing so could lend a false legitimacy to baseless claims, particularly to the throngs of Trump supporters who believe the election was stolen because he keeps wrongly claiming it was.

Trump and His Allies Have Filed Roughly 50 Lawsuits

Barr’s statements Monday may make it easier for the acting attorney general who takes over, Jeffrey Rosen, to resist pressure from the White House to make such appointments.

In his 2019 confirmation hearing for deputy attorney general, Rosen said he was willing to rebuff political pressure from the White House if necessary. He told legislators that criminal investigations should “proceed on the facts and the law” and prosecutions should be “free of improper political influences.”

“If the appropriate answer is to say no to somebody, then I will say no,” he said at the time.

Trump and his allies have filed roughly 50 lawsuits challenging election results and nearly all have been dismissed or dropped. He’s also lost twice at the U.S. Supreme Court.

With no further tenable legal recourse, Trump has been fuming and peppering allies for options as he refuses to accept his loss.

Among those allies is Rudy Giuliani, who during a meeting Friday pushed Trump to seize voting machines in his hunt for evidence of fraud. The Homeland Security Department made clear, however, that it had no authority to do so. It is also unclear what that would accomplish.

For his part, Barr said he saw no reason to seize them. Earlier this month, Barr also told the AP that the Justice Department and Homeland Security had looked into the claims “that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results” and ultimately concluded that “so far, we haven’t seen anything to substantiate that.”

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.

Federal Law Requires That an Attorney General Appoint Any Special Counsels.

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 said Monday the hack of U.S. government agencies “certainly appears to be the Russians.”

In implicating the Russians, Barr was siding with the widely held belief within the U.S. government and the cybersecurity community that Russian hackers were responsible for breaches at multiple government agencies, including the Treasury and Commerce departments.

Hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a radio interview that Russia was “pretty clearly” behind the hacks, Trump sought to undercut that message and play down the severity of the attack.

He tweeted that the “Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality.” He also said China could be responsible even though no credible evidence has emerged to suggest anyone other than Russia might be to blame.

Barr’s comments came on the 32nd anniversary of the Pan Am explosion over Lockerbie, Scotland, that killed 259 people in the air and 11 on the ground.

The Justice Department announced its case against the accused bombmaker, Abu Agela Masud Kheir Al-Marimi, who admitted in an interview with Libyan officials several years ago that he had built the bomb and worked with two other defendants to carry out the attack, Barr said.

Calling the news conference to announce the charges underscored Barr’s attachment to that case. He had announced an earlier set of charges against two other Libyan intelligence officials in his capacity as acting attorney general nearly 30 years ago, vowing that the investigation would continue.

RELATED TOPICS:

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

Trump Says He Expects Putin to Release Ukrainian Prisoners

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration Revoked More Than 6,000 Student Visas, State Dept Says

DON'T MISS

Poll: Fewer Americans Satisfied With Treatment of Immigrants, Minority Groups

DON'T MISS

Trump Administration in Talks to Take 10% Stake in Intel, Bloomberg News Reports

DON'T MISS

Trump Eyes Reclassification to Make Cannabis Easier to Buy and Sell

DON'T MISS

America’s Wildfire Fighters, Unmasked in Toxic Smoke, Are Getting Sick and Dying

DON'T MISS

Zelenskiy Arrives at White House for High-Stakes Trump Meeting

DON'T MISS

Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, Alleged Mexican Drug Lord, Set to Plead Guilty

DON'T MISS

Hamas Accepts Proposed Deal for Ceasefire With Israel and Hostage Release, Egyptian Source Says

DON'T MISS

Texas Democratic Lawmakers End Walkout, Setting Stage for Vote on Redrawn Map

UP NEXT

Poll: Fewer Americans Satisfied With Treatment of Immigrants, Minority Groups

UP NEXT

America’s Wildfire Fighters, Unmasked in Toxic Smoke, Are Getting Sick and Dying

UP NEXT

Zelenskiy Arrives at White House for High-Stakes Trump Meeting

UP NEXT

Texas Democratic Lawmakers End Walkout, Setting Stage for Vote on Redrawn Map

UP NEXT

US Offers Up to $50,000 Bonus for New ICE Deportation Officers

UP NEXT

New York City Police Say to Avoid Times Square Due to Investigation

UP NEXT

Democrat Sherrod Brown Says He Will Try to Return to US Senate in 2026

UP NEXT

Trump Vows to Target Mail-in Ballots Ahead of 2026 Midterm Election

UP NEXT

What to Know About Russia-US-Ukraine Peace Talks

UP NEXT

Melania Trump Sends Letter to Putin About Abducted Children

Trump Administration in Talks to Take 10% Stake in Intel, Bloomberg News Reports

34 minutes ago

Trump Eyes Reclassification to Make Cannabis Easier to Buy and Sell

38 minutes ago

America’s Wildfire Fighters, Unmasked in Toxic Smoke, Are Getting Sick and Dying

1 hour ago

Zelenskiy Arrives at White House for High-Stakes Trump Meeting

1 hour ago

Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, Alleged Mexican Drug Lord, Set to Plead Guilty

1 hour ago

Hamas Accepts Proposed Deal for Ceasefire With Israel and Hostage Release, Egyptian Source Says

2 hours ago

Texas Democratic Lawmakers End Walkout, Setting Stage for Vote on Redrawn Map

2 hours ago

Costa Bill Could Mean Grant Money to More Rural Towns Facing Water Disasters

3 hours ago

Gavin Newsom Warms to Big Oil in Climate Reversal

3 hours ago

Madera County Authorities Arrest Two During Oakhurst Law Enforcement Operation

3 hours ago

Trump Says He Expects Putin to Release Ukrainian Prisoners

President Donald Trump on Monday said he expected Russian President Vladimir Putin to release over 1,000 Ukrainian prisoners soon after a tr...

2 minutes ago

President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin hold a press conference following their meeting to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine, at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, U.S., August 15, 2025. (Reuters File)
2 minutes ago

Trump Says He Expects Putin to Release Ukrainian Prisoners

A general view of a U.S. State Department sign outside the U.S. State Department building in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 11, 2025. (Reuters File)
23 minutes ago

Trump Administration Revoked More Than 6,000 Student Visas, State Dept Says

A group of young adults of different racial and ethnic backgrounds stand side by side outdoors, looking directly at the camera with serious expressions.
31 minutes ago

Poll: Fewer Americans Satisfied With Treatment of Immigrants, Minority Groups

A smartphone with a displayed Intel logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. (Reuters File)
34 minutes ago

Trump Administration in Talks to Take 10% Stake in Intel, Bloomberg News Reports

President Donald Trump shouts to reporters as he walks on the roof of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 5, 2025. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)
38 minutes ago

Trump Eyes Reclassification to Make Cannabis Easier to Buy and Sell

US Forest Service firefighters in San Luis Obispo California
1 hour ago

America’s Wildfire Fighters, Unmasked in Toxic Smoke, Are Getting Sick and Dying

President Donald Trump greets Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy at the White House, amid negotiations to end the Russian war in Ukraine, in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 18, 2025. (Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)
1 hour ago

Zelenskiy Arrives at White House for High-Stakes Trump Meeting

Accused Mexican former drug lord Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada appears in Brooklyn federal court, New York, U.S, October 18, 2024, in this courtroom sketch. (Reuters File)
1 hour ago

Ismael ‘El Mayo’ Zambada, Alleged Mexican Drug Lord, Set to Plead Guilty

Search

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Send this to a friend