Attorney General William Barr will be leaving his post before Christmas. This comes on the heels of tensions between the head of the Department of Justice and President Donald Trump. Barr’s resignation letter indicates that discussions had taken place at the White House in order to create a smooth transition.
The president tweeted:
“Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family. Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all!”
William Barr
But the pleasant tone of both the letter and Trump’s tweet is belied by the president’s earlier comments on AG Barr’s inaction in October on the Hunter Biden scandal. In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision not to hear the Texas case, the president wrote that “IF Biden gets in, nothing will happen to Hunter or Joe. Barr will do nothing, and the new group of partisan killers coming in will quickly kill it all. Same thing with Durham. We caught them cold, spying, treason & more (the hard part), but ‘Justice’ took too long. Will be DOA!”
It was revealed on Dec. 13 that Barr told prosecutors investigating Hunter not to take any steps that might cause the case to be publicly disclosed in the run-up to the election. According to The Wall Street Journal, Barr “orally” gave instructions to prosecutors so as not to leave a paper trail.
Barr used his resignation letter to list President Trump’s numerous achievements and laud him for his steadfastness in facing off the media storm. He wrote, “Your record is all the more historic because you accomplished it in the face of relentless, implacable resistance … Few could have weathered these attacks, much less forged ahead with a positive program for the country.”
Trump campaign lawyers earlier released a statement that was perhaps prescient, suggesting:
“With all due respect to the Attorney General, there hasn’t been any semblance of a Department of Justice investigation … Again, with the greatest respect to the Attorney General, his opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of the substantial irregularities and evidence of systemic fraud.”
William Barr has yet to make an official statement other than the resignation letter.
~
Read more from Mark Angelides.
