Shortly after the Electoral College formally announced Biden’s victory on the 2020 Presidential elections, Trump posted on Twitter that US Attorney General William Barr will step down from his post on December 23. People close to the incumbent US President have purportedly been anticipating Barr’s termination after he publicly contradicted Trump’s election fraud claims earlier this month. Although Trump has openly said on his Twitter post that his relationship with Barr “has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job”, sources say that he has been seriously contemplating firing the Attorney General after the latter rejected the President’s unfounded fraud conspiracies. Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will become Acting Attorney General, replacing Barr.
Read: US Attorney General Bashed for Refuting Trump’s Election Fraud Claims
CNBC: The shake-up, in the twilight of Trump’s tenure in the White House, also followed weeks of public clashes between Barr and the president.
According to CNBC, the widely anticipated announcement of Barr’s departure came just moments after President-elect Joe Biden’s victory over Trump was formalized by the Electoral College. The shake-up, in the twilight of Trump’s tenure in the White House, also followed weeks of public clashes between Barr and the president.
Trump, in the tweets, implied he bore no ill will toward Barr, despite his recent criticisms.
Barr in early December directly contradicted Trump when he revealed that the Department of Justice had not found any evidence of large-scale voter or election fraud that would overturn Biden’s projected victory.
That admission undercut the president, who has refused to concede to Biden and is falsely claiming he won the election, citing an array of unproven fraud conspiracies and asserting the race was “rigged” against him.
CNN: Despite Trump’s upbeat message, he had been seriously considering firing his attorney general as recently as Sunday
Meanwhile, in a related news, CNN reports that despite escalating tensions between Trump and Barr that had burst recently into public view, the President framed Barr’s departure as amicable.
In spite of Trump’s upbeat Twitter message, he had been seriously considering firing his attorney general as recently as Sunday, people familiar with the matter said, though officials did not believe he would go through with dismissing Barr immediately.
Over the past several months aides have discouraged Trump from firing Barr.
