Bill Barr throws cold water on Trump’s endless election fraud claims
Win Mcnamee/Getty Images
The Atlantic reports that even Republicans in Congress were getting antsy about Donald Trump’s continued insistence that he was the real winner of the 2020 election as early as late November. In fact, Barr told the outlet that then Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had asked him to speak out against the president, telling Barr that Trump’s claims were not going to help two Republican senators win a Georgia runoff election. Indeed, both senators were defeated by Democrats on January 5.
Barr did tell Department of Justice prosecutors they could investigate Trump’s claims back in November, but he didn’t expect them to find anything. He even told The Atlantic that he expected Trump to lose the election anyway. “My attitude was: It was put-up or shut-up time,” Barr said. “If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bullshit.”
Bill Barr bluntly told Donald Trump what he thought of his legal team
Bloomberg/Getty Images
In the end, the prosecutors never did investigate the former president’s claims. However, the claims were defeated in court over and over again between the time the election was called for Joe Biden and when the election was finally certified in the wee hours of the morning on January 7, 2021 after a violent attack on the Capitol.
Of the court cases, Barr explained to The Atlantic that he also told Trump why he kept losing his legal battles when the former president was enraged at Barr for publicly stating that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud. “You know, you only have five weeks, Mr. President, after an election to make legal challenges,” Barr said. “This would have taken a crackerjack team with a really coherent and disciplined strategy. Instead, you have a clown show. No self-respecting lawyer is going anywhere near it. It’s just a joke. That’s why you are where you are.”
Former Attorney General Bill Barr Has Harsh Words About Trump’s Election Fraud Claims
Drew Angerer/Getty Images
By Hope Campbell/June 28, 2021 10:08 am EST
Bill Barr throws cold water on Trump’s endless election fraud claims
Win Mcnamee/Getty Images
The Atlantic reports that even Republicans in Congress were getting antsy about Donald Trump’s continued insistence that he was the real winner of the 2020 election as early as late November. In fact, Barr told the outlet that then Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had asked him to speak out against the president, telling Barr that Trump’s claims were not going to help two Republican senators win a Georgia runoff election. Indeed, both senators were defeated by Democrats on January 5.
Barr did tell Department of Justice prosecutors they could investigate Trump’s claims back in November, but he didn’t expect them to find anything. He even told The Atlantic that he expected Trump to lose the election anyway. “My attitude was: It was put-up or shut-up time,” Barr said. “If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bullshit.”
Barr did tell Department of Justice prosecutors they could investigate Trump’s claims back in November, but he didn’t expect them to find anything. He even told The Atlantic that he expected Trump to lose the election anyway.
“My attitude was: It was put-up or shut-up time,” Barr said. “If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bullshit.”
Bill Barr bluntly told Donald Trump what he thought of his legal team
Bloomberg/Getty Images
In the end, the prosecutors never did investigate the former president’s claims. However, the claims were defeated in court over and over again between the time the election was called for Joe Biden and when the election was finally certified in the wee hours of the morning on January 7, 2021 after a violent attack on the Capitol.
Of the court cases, Barr explained to The Atlantic that he also told Trump why he kept losing his legal battles when the former president was enraged at Barr for publicly stating that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud. “You know, you only have five weeks, Mr. President, after an election to make legal challenges,” Barr said. “This would have taken a crackerjack team with a really coherent and disciplined strategy. Instead, you have a clown show. No self-respecting lawyer is going anywhere near it. It’s just a joke. That’s why you are where you are.”
Of the court cases, Barr explained to The Atlantic that he also told Trump why he kept losing his legal battles when the former president was enraged at Barr for publicly stating that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud.
“You know, you only have five weeks, Mr. President, after an election to make legal challenges,” Barr said. “This would have taken a crackerjack team with a really coherent and disciplined strategy. Instead, you have a clown show. No self-respecting lawyer is going anywhere near it. It’s just a joke. That’s why you are where you are.”
