Attorney General Bill Barr is considering resigning before President Donald Trump’s term ends after clashing with the president over his false voter fraud claims, The New York Times reports.
Barr has been weighing his departure for weeks, sources told the Times, and believes that he has “completed the work that he set out to accomplish at the Justice Department.”
Barr has not made a final decision, according to the outlet’s sources.
If Barr departs, Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen would be in line to succeed him.
Barr has wielded an unusual amount of power at the department and has opened investigations and intervened in cases related to Trump, his allies, and his political opponents. He recently appointed US Attorney John Durham as a special prosecutor to continue investigating the origins of the Russia probe after President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
Report comes after fraud clash:
Though Barr is said to have considered departing before last week, his comments refuting Trump’s false voter fraud claims have created new tension between Trump and his AG.
“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” Barr told the Associated Press last week.
Trump campaign attorney Rudy Giuliani criticized Barr, arguing that “there hasn’t been any semblance” of an investigation.
He claimed that there was “ample evidence of illegal voting in at least six states, which they have not examined.”
Courts have roundly rejected the campaign’s legal challenges in every state.
Conservatives angry at Barr:
An early departure could avoid a “confrontation” with Trump over his fraud claims amid criticism from the president’s supporters.
Trump has not said whether he still has confidence in Barr after his comments last week.
Many of Trump’s allies “have called for Mr. Barr to step down over his refusal to wade further into Mr. Trump’s efforts to overturn the election outcome,” the Times reported.
