On the 14th local time, shortly after the US Electoral College confirmed Biden's victory, Trump tweeted that Attorney General William Barr would leave his post before Christmas.
Trump tweeted Barr's resignation, adding: "Just had a very pleasant meeting with Attorney General Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been great and he has done an excellent job! According to the letter, he will leave his post before Christmas to spend the festive season with his family. ”
Trump added, "The excellent Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will be acting secretary and the respected Richard Donoghue will take over as Deputy Attorney General." Thank you! ”
Screenshot of Trump's Twitter
In his resignation, Barr said he would finish the remaining important government matters next week and leave on Dec. 23. He began his resignation by saying he was pleased to have the opportunity to report to Trump on the Justice Department's review of the election fraud allegations and said the Justice Department would continue to follow up on the allegations. In the rest of the resignation, Barr did not hesitate to praise Trump and the performance of the Justice Department.
Barr said: "I am very honored to be appointed by you as Attorney General to serve your administration and the American people. You have accomplished much for the American people that have never been done before, and I am proud to have played a role in it. ”
Barr touted Trump's performance throughout the text: "You've built the most powerful and resilient economy in American history, bringing unprecedented progress to those who were previously forgotten." You restored the military power of the United States. By brokering a historic peace agreement in the Middle East, you have achieved what most people consider impossible..."
Barr also "complained" on Trump's behalf, praising Trump's achievements as accomplished under the "relentless and irreconcilable resistance" of his opponents. He claimed that opponents had launched "violent attacks" on Trump, "baseless accusations that you (Trump) colluded with Russia" and even tried to "overthrow your government" that were "intolerable." ”
"Very few people can withstand such attacks, let alone push forward some positive projects for this country." Barr said.
Barr resigned
Barr, 70, served as attorney general for former U.S. President George W. Bush, who has long supported expanding the U.S. president's authority over the executive branch. The US media once described Barr as the attorney general who most supported the power of the US president since the "Watergate incident". In February 2019, he was again appointed attorney general by Trump, and in a very short time won Trump's trust and support, and was called Trump's "close comrade-in-arms" by Capitol Hill.
Around the time of this year's election, Barr once supported Trump's argument that "mail-in ballots" fraud and that elections might be "fraudulent."
Reuters reported on September 2 that Barr said on the same day that mail-in ballots for the US election may be "difficult to prevent election fraud". Shortly after the election, Barr, with the support of senior Republican officials, authorized an investigation into electoral irregularities on November 9. The MOVE "violates a 40-year tradition in the Justice Department."
However, after the election, Trump's allegations of "election fraud" did not go well. The Justice Department's investigation also revealed that there was no "election fraud" in this election that could change the outcome.
On Dec. 1, Barr said in an interview with the Associated Press (AP) that the Justice Department had found no evidence of massive ballot fraud enough to change the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Since then, Trump has complained about Barr.
In addition to contradicting Trump over election fraud, Barr also declined to make public the Justice Department investigation into Biden's son to avoid affecting the outcome of the election. According to CNN (cnn) reported on the 6th, a source revealed that Barr had tried to block the Justice Department's investigation into the tax issue of Biden's son Hunter Biden.
On December 6, The New York Times quoted three people familiar with the matter as saying that Barr was considering resigning before Trump's presidency ended.
A week later, CNN quoted sources as saying trump and Barr had another argument over "election fraud" in a meeting. At a meeting on the 11th, Trump proposed the possibility of firing Barr.
In response to the impact of Barr's departure, the New York Times analyzed that this can be described as "mixed" for the Trump administration.
Barr's ability to exercise Justice Department powers to serve Trump's political agenda during his tenure has been extremely rare in the past half-century. For Trump, the loss of such a cabinet is undoubtedly a loss.
But on the other hand, because Barr refused to use the authority of the Justice Department to interfere in Trump's "election fraud" lawsuit, many of Trump's loyal allies have asked Barr to resign, and they should be happy to see the result.
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