The Justice Department disputed a report that Attorney General William Barr is reportedly considering stepping down before President Donald Trump’s first term ends in January.
The New York Times reported on Sunday that Barr is on the outs with Trump ever since the attorney general told the Associated Press that the Justice Department has “not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election.”
One source, however, told the Times Barr’s alleged decision to resign was not affected by Trump or his department’s recent disagreement with the administration.
The DOJ dismissed the Times report and said Barr intends to serve as long as the president “needs him.”
NEW: A DOJ official tells @CBSNews that Attorney General Bill Barr intends to stay as long as President Trump needs him. Sunday NYTimes reported, “Barr Is Said to Be Weighing Whether to Leave Before Trump’s Term Ends”
— Catherine Herridge (@CBS_Herridge) December 7, 2020
Still, Trump made it clear after Barr’s interview with AP that he was displeased with the attorney general.
When asked whether he still had confidence in Barr, Trump said, “Ask me that in a number of weeks from now.”
“They should be looking at all of this fraud,” Trump said. “This is not civil. He thought it was civil. This is not civil. This is criminal stuff. This is very bad criminal stuff.”
The Times reported that leaving the administration early could help Barr avoid another confrontation with Trump.
The two men reportedly had a tense meeting last week after Trump intercepted Barr when he was visiting the White House for a prescheduled meeting with chief of staff Mark Meadows, according to ABC News.
One source told ABC News that the Trump-Barr conversation was “intense” but would not give further details.
A few days after the reported meeting, Trump insisted that the Department of Justice was not taking allegations of widespread voter fraud seriously enough.
“He hasn’t done anything, so he hasn’t looked. When he looks he’ll see the kind of evidence that right now you are seeing in the Georgia senate. They are going through hearings right now in Georgia and they are finding tremendous volumes,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “So, they haven’t looked very hard. Which is a disappointment, to be honest with you, because it’s massive fraud.”
