Trump announces Attorney General Bill Barr's departure
Trump announces Attorney General Bill Barr's departure
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On Monday, President Donald Trump announced that Attorney General Bill Barr, who upset him by contradicting his allegations that he was the victim of mass fraud in the US election, is leaving office.

Trump, who is set to step down after losing the Nov. 3 election, tweeted, “Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House,”

“Our relationship has been a very good one… Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family.”

“Barr resigned on his own accord. He wasn’t pushed out or forced to resign. It was a very amicable meeting.”

The Democrats strongly criticised Barr, Trump’s second attorney general, for what they said was his unethical conduct to shield Trump from the president’s Russia links during a probe by special counsel Robert Mueller.

House Democrat Bill Pascrell tweeted, “Good riddance to the worst most corrupt despicable Attorney General in US history,”

However, around the time of the presidential election, Barr angered Trump for failing, in the president’s eyes, to use the Department of Justice to assist his campaign or to back up Trump’s claims of fraud.

Before Election Day, Trump had long hoped that an investigation by the Justice Department into the alleged political roots of the Russia probe would help him harm his Democratic opponent, Joe Biden.

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Trump publicly fumed that he would be “very disappointed.” when Barr made it clear that nothing of the sort was coming.

After the election, which Trump sought to overturn, he became angry with Barr again, claiming without evidence that Biden only won because of fraud.

Barr told The Associated Press that we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election”-an assessment that has left a gaping hole in Trump’s ongoing campaign of disinformation.

Trump has also fumed over the revelation that in the run-up to the election, the Justice Department decided not to make public an investigation into the business dealings of Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

Again to help him win a second term, Trump had been hoping for Barr to provide damaging news.

Trump announced that Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, “an outstanding person,” would take over Barr’s acting position.

Trump, who is scheduled to leave office on Jan. 20, has already fired Jeff Sessions, the attorney general, in 2018.

In that case, Sessions had angered Trump by rebutting the Russian investigation, leading to the appointment of Mueller.