Trump defeat: Bill Barr calls fraud allegations ‘nonsense’

In a series of interviews used in a book to be published next November, the person who has been a staunch advocate of the Republican billionaire recounts how he finally decided to publicly contradict his boss.

ABC News reporter Jonathan Karl, author of the book, excerpts from it appeared in the magazine on Sunday. The Atlantic, mentions that betrayal, according to the terms it uses, happened on December 1, 2020.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Bill Barr had done just that He admitted finding no basis in the conspiracies used by Donald Trump and his attorney. So far we have not seen any fraud on a scale that could have changed the outcome of the election., had been announced.

A result that came as no surprise to him at all, he says today.

It is time to resist or close it. If there was any evidence of fraud, I would have no reason to hide it, but I always felt there was none: it was all nonsense.

The former attorney general said he looked into some of the allegations made by the then-president’s camp, including those related to voting machines that Donald Trump is accused of programmed to add votes to Democratic challenger Joe Biden. There was no gap anywhere Between the results of these machines and manual counting, he emphasizes.

Ultra-conservative Bill Barr explains that he was urged to act in this direction by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was convinced that presidential rhetoric impeded Republicans’ campaign for the Georgia Senate. .

From what he remembers, Mitch McConnell told him: Look, we need the president in Georgia, so we can’t attack him head on now. But you are in the best position to instill a bit of realism into this situation. You are the only one who can do that.

Confrontation

The reaction of the hot tenant in the White House was not long in coming. How can you do this to me?Thunder thundered during a tense meeting, hours after the interview was published with the Associated Press, according to the account given by Bill Barr to ABC News correspondent.

You should hate TrumpHe told her, speaking of himself in the third person.

Blaming him for not opening legal proceedings against Hunter, the son of Joe Biden, for his work in Ukraine and against former FBI Director James Comey, or for not publishing a report on the origins of the investigation linked to Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump also told him that he does not benefit from it.

During this interview, Bill Barr was critical of the strategy of his interlocutor’s lawyer team: It would have taken a shock team with a really cohesive and disciplined strategy. Instead, you have a clown show. No self-respecting lawyer comes close. It is just a joke. This is why you are where you are.

Donald Trump has notably represented former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and Sydney Powell, both of whom used Strange and fictitious claims.

Last year, officials from several national and local electoral bodies issued a joint statement Ensuring the integrity and security of the elections For 2020, presented as The safest in history.

Two weeks after meeting Donald Trump, Bill Barr announced his resignation In a letter of commendation he did not mention the elections.

Replica of the former president

After publishing his article The AtlanticFormer President Trump did not hesitate to criticize his former ally in a statement issued Sunday.

Bill Barr’s Weakness Helped Suppress the Crime of the Century: The Stolen 2020 Presidential Electionwrote calling him Renault, short meaning Republican in name only. I was disappointed by Bill Barr so much, he added.

The former president participated in a partisan rally in Ohio on Saturday in support of Max Miller, the Republican candidate for Congress.

Photo: Getty Images / Scott Olson

Ironically, Democrats have repeatedly criticized him for acting more like Donald Trump’s personal attorney rather than the attorney general.

In November, Bill Barr allowed federal prosecutors to begin investigations, before the results were formally ratified Clear and credible allegations of wrongdoing that may affect the outcome of a state’s federal election.

However, the department’s longstanding policy prevents such investigations before the election results are certified.

During his tenure, he also intervened in the files of two of Donald Trump’s aides, Roger Stone And the Michael Flynn.

In the spring of 2019, Democrats accused Bill Barr of politicizing his role as attorney general after publishing Mueller Report On Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, So he demands his resignation.

owes him confusionThousands of former prosecutors and Justice Department officials own it too He called on more than one occasion to resign.

In February 2020, when Donald Trump intensified his attacks on the justice system and his handling of the Stone case, Bill Barr allowed himself rare criticism of him He said he found his tweets backfiring.