Barr Won't Appoint Special Counsel to Probe Vote-Fraud Claims or Hunter Biden - WSJ
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Attorney general says he believes the investigation into President-elect Joe Biden's son is 'being handled responsibly and professionally'
Attorney General Bill Barr spoke days before he is set to depart from his post.
Photo: mandel ngan/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
By
Aruna Viswanatha
Updated Dec. 21, 2020 12:08 pm ET
WASHINGTON—Attorney General William Barr said he saw no reason to appoint a special counsel to investigate allegations against Hunter Biden or election fraud on Monday, saying he believed the investigation into President-elect Joe Biden's son was "being handled responsibly and professionally."
Mr. Barr made the comments at a press conference to announce new criminal charges related to the bomb that exploded a plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.
The...
WASHINGTON—Attorney General William Barr said he saw no reason to appoint a special counsel to investigate allegations against Hunter Biden or election fraud on Monday, saying he believed the investigation into President-elect Joe Biden's son was "being handled responsibly and professionally."
Mr. Barr made the comments at a press conference to announce new criminal charges related to the bomb that exploded a plane over Lockerbie, Scotland, in 1988.
The White House didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Barr's comments come days before he is set to depart from his post, amid disagreements between him and President Trump over the treatment of Hunter Biden and allegations of election fraud. He said he hoped the Biden administration would handle the investigation into the president-elect's son "responsibly."
Mr. Barr's deputy, Jeffrey Rosen, will become the acting attorney general for the past few weeks of the Trump administration, and could take a different approach. Associates have said they didn't expect Mr. Rosen to deviate from Mr. Barr's policies. Mr. Rosen declined to comment on whether he would make such an appointment in an interview with Reuters last week.
Hunter Biden disclosed earlier this month that federal prosecutors in Delaware were investigating his tax affairs. Before the November election, Mr. Barr and other Justice Department officials had worked to keep details of the investigation private to keep the agency out of campaign politics.
Mr. Trump has pushed for appointing special counsels to investigate both the younger Mr. Biden and to investigate his allegations of election fraud related to the November vote, even though no evidence of widespread fraud has emerged.
"To the extent that there is an investigation, I think that it is being handled responsibly and professionally," Mr. Barr said Monday, in response to a question about whether he would name a special counsel to examine Hunter Biden. "To this point I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and I have no plan to do so before I leave."
The attorney general previously said the Justice Department hasn't found evidence of widespread election fraud that would reverse Mr. Biden's victory, an assessment he repeated when asked Monday if he would appoint a special counsel to examine those allegations.
"If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool, and was appropriate, I would name one, but I haven't and I'm not going to," Mr. Barr said.
—Sadie Gurman contributed to this article.
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I told all you guys that there was no there there...
Barr continues to be a BIG disappointment to Trump. /s
Trump's head should be exploding anytime now...LOL
once trump's aides stuff all the shit back into that sack on top of his neck, the rage tweets will start.
Well between Christmas and Jan 19 the new acting AG can do so if there’s a need to do it. No big deal.
I thought Barr quit so how does he have the power to do or not do anything?
Barr will step down at the end of this work week. I suppose that Rosen could do it next week, but that's not really his style either.
Isn't Rosen a toadie who has made it a practice to protect Trump and his family?
Honestly I got him confused with Rod Rosenstein. My bad. I did find this nugget in a recent NPR article:
I'd give it 50-50.
His resignation is effective December 23.
His last day on the job is Wednesday.
Lockerbie!!!