Shortly after the U.S. Electoral College voted to officially confirm Biden’s election as President of the United States, U.S. Attorney General Barr announced on Monday that he would leave on the 23rd.
U.S. President Trump tweeted on the same day that Barr “will leave before Christmas”. Although White House officials said that Barr resigned voluntarily, public opinion believed that Barr was actually “resigned”.
According to Reuters on the 15th, Barr, 70, submitted his resignation to Trump on the 14th. In his resignation letter, he said that he was proud to serve in the Trump administration and praised Trump’s “strong heart” and made “historical” in his tenure to boost the economy, strengthen the military, and curb illegal immigration. Achievement”.
Barr has been a “loyal minister” of Trump since he became the U.S. Attorney General in February 2019, and has been repeatedly questioned about “coveting up” Trump.
When he took office, at the end of the “Russia-Russia” investigation, Barr only released an abridged version of the investigation report on the grounds of Confidentiality, which was believed to help Trump clear up suspicions and aroused strong condemnation from Democrats.
Barr also urged the Department of Justice to withdraw the “co-Russia” charges against former President’s National Security Assistant Flynn and help Trump’s old friend Stone commute his sentence.
When anti-racism protests broke out in the United States this year, Barr sent law enforcement personnel to disperse peaceful demonstrators outside the White House to make Trump “flash” and create campaign advertisements for re-election. Some Democrats and Justice Department officials say Barr acts less like the country’s attorney general, but more like Trump’s personal attorney.
However, recently, Trump and Barr have a rift because of the U.S. election. Earlier this month, Barr said that “the Department of Justice has found no evidence of widespread fraud in the November 3 presidential election vote”.
According to people familiar with the matter, Barr’s statement that “did not detect election fraud” was regarded as a “defiasance” by Trump. The two held a long meeting in the White House “extense and fierce”, and Trump accused Barr of “not collecting evidence of election fraud at all seriously”. In addition, the Wall Street Journal recently revealed that Barr learned earlier this year that Biden’s son Hunter was under investigation for tax issues, but did not disclose it before the U.S. election vote.
Some people from the Trump camp criticized Barr for being “fired” for this. Trump retweeted this view on Twitter and said, “(Barr) is so disappointing!” Sources said that Trump said at the meeting on the 11th that he would fire Barr.
Nadler, chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee, issued a statement on Barr’s resignation, saying, “Barr does everything as Trump wants, except rejecting Trump’s absurd claim to be the winner.” He also said that no matter who Biden appoints as Attorney General in the future, he will face the difficult task of restoring the integrity of the Department of Justice.
