AP Photo/Evan Vucci
- Attorney General Bill Barr is considering leaving office before President Donald Trump’s term ends in January, The New York Times reported.
- The report comes after Barr broke from the president last week and said the Justice Department and the FBI had not found evidence of widespread voter fraud that would alter the results of the 2020 election.
- Barr has been considered a staunch defender of the president, but when asked whether he still has confidence in the attorney general, Trump said “ask me that in a number of weeks.”
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US Attorney General Bill Barr is considering leaving office before President Donald Trump’s term ends in January, The New York Times reported.
The report comes after Barr broke from the president last week and said the Justice Department had not found evidence of widespread voter fraud that would alter the results of the 2020 election.
Three sources reportedly told the Times that Barr may leave before Trump exits office; one said the attorney general was considering it since before his statement about the election last week.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s request for comment.
Barr has been considered one of the president’s most staunch defenders. Prior to the election, he even echoed one of Trump’s claims that mail-in ballots could be susceptible to interference by foreign actors, something US intelligence officials did not find evidence to support.
The president has not said much publicly in response to Barr. But when asked recently whether he still has confidence in the attorney general, Trump said "ask me that in a number of weeks."
The Washington Post reported last week that Trump advisors are trying to stop the president from firing Barr.
Despite Barr's statement, the president has continued to make unsubstantiated claims about widespread voter fraud. Before Barr spoke out, Trump even suggested, without evidence, that the federal government, including Barr's department, might be involved.
While Trump has continued to cast doubt on the election results, enough states have certified their results to secure an electoral college victory for President-elect Joe Biden.
Some of Trump's allies have also criticized Barr for not doing more in service of the president's attempts to change the results of the election.
"With all due respect to the Attorney General, there hasn't been any semblance of a Department of Justice investigation," Trump attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis said in a statement.