Bill Barr Says He Suspected Trump's Election Fraud Claims Were 'Bullsh-t' From The Start
By: Jemima McEvoy (Forbes)
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Jemima McEvoyForbes StaffBusinessI'm a British-born reporter covering breaking news for Forbes.
Topline
In his first public comments about his break from Donald Trump following the presidential election, former Attorney General Bill Barr says in an interview published Sunday by The Atlantic that he was skeptical of the ex-president's election fraud claims long before he publicly dispelled them and green-lighted a Justice Department probe, which he claimed he did in part to help him stand up to Trump.
Attorney General William Barr arrives to testify before the Senate Appropriations Committee in the ... [+] Dirksen Senate Office Building on April 10, 2019 in Washington, DC.
Key Facts
Barr, who was widely considered one of Trump's closest allies throughout his time in office, said he thought the election fraud claims were "bullsh-t," according to an interview conducted by ABC News' Jon Karl that appears in The Atlantic.
"My suspicion all along was that there was nothing there," Barr said, noting he also personally looked into several of Trump's claims—including supposed "ballot dumps" in Detroit—which he quickly found not to be true.
Nonetheless, in addition to his own search, Barr green-lighted a Department of Justice probe into the lies, giving them a veneer of validity, before publicly declaring there was no widespread voter fraud nearly a month after the election., in a Dec. 1 interview with the Associated Press.
Though Barr publicly described the fraud claims in November 2020 as "substantial allegations" that could "potentially impact the outcome" of the election," he asserts in the new interview that he actually allowed prosecutors to investigate so he would have evidence to show Trump when he ultimately had to confront him.
The ex-attorney general also said he was under mounting pressure to dispel the lies from top Justice Department officials and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who was concerned Trump would mess up the GOP's chances in the runoff elections in Georgia and deemed Barr "the only one who can do it" (an account McConnell confirmed with The Atlantic ).
Crucial Quote
"My attitude was: It was put-up or shut-up time," Barr said of when he finally came out against Trump. "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."
Surprising Fact
The article also details the conversation between Trump and Barr that followed his bombshell Associated Press interview. Barr recalled an angry Trump asking: "How the f-ck could you do this to me? Why did you say it?" "You must hate Trump. You must hate Trump," the ex-president then said, according to Barr's account.
Key Background
Barr's departure from the Justice Department was announced two weeks after he publicly contradicted Trump. According to The Atlantic , it was Barr's decision to leave (representatives for Trump did not immediately respond to a request from Forbes to confirm this account) . Though his comments were critical in slaying the conspiracy theory of a stolen election, the weeks of silence from him and other top Trump officials allowed these false claims to fester and contributed to still lingering-disinformation. Lawmakers have also cited the entertaining of election fraud lies as the cause of the deadly riots at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
Tangent
The interviews with Barr were conducted in the spring for Karl's upcoming book, "Betrayal," which is slated to explore the aftermath of the presidential election. The book is set to be released in November of this year.
Further Reading
"William Barr Speaks" (The Atlantic)
"Disputing Trump, Barr says no widespread election fraud" (The Associated Press)
"Attorney General Bill Barr Will Leave Office Next Week" (Forbes)
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I'm a British-born reporter covering breaking news for Forbes.
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My respect for the former AG just went up a notch
he'll never be able to climb out of that toilet he so willfully dove into.
No, he won't, that's for sure. I understand he's trying to retrieve his reputation but even this isn't going to cut it
autocrats always leave such nice legacies for their family members,... that live...
I'm sure his only reason for not running with the fraud claim was purely selfish.
He knew there was 0 evidence for it, and he would end up in the same situation as Giuliani. He also knew that Trump had lost the election, so his chance for a pardon had also disappeared.
So, 1 notch up still means he is still eyebrows deep in his own shit.
yeah...pretty much
He's trying to save what little is left of his reputation.
It's really got Trump's attention since he went on the attack against Barr for those comments.
I think he was a little late on that. AND he should have been more vocal as the lies continued leading up to Jan. 6.
A certain NT conservative once declared that Barr would go down as the greatest US Attorney General in history. I believe Trump once said something similar.
I guess those thoughts are now inoperative.
I can just hear them screaming "RETRACT!!!! RETRACT!!!!!"
More like...
"You're putting words in my mouth"
"You're taking things out of context"
"I never said that"
I hear that here so often.
What was his first clue? He knew and didn't care...
And this is a man who knows a little sumpin sumpin about bullshit.