US Attorney-General Bill Barr announces resignation

Donald Trump’s Attorney-General William Barr has announced his resignation, saying he will spend the next week “wrapping up”.

Donald Trump’s Attorney-General William Barr has announced his resignation, saying he will spend the next week “wrapping up”.

The President, who has publicly criticised Mr Barr’s performance in recent days, announced the move on Twitter on Monday.

“Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney-General Bill Barr at the White House,” Mr Trump tweeted, sharing a copy of Mr Barr’s resignation letter.

“Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family.”

Mr Trump said current Deputy Attorney-General Jeff Rosen would become Acting Attorney-General, while Richard Donoghue would take over as Deputy Attorney-General.

...Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all! pic.twitter.com/V5sqOJT9PM

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2020

Mr Barr said he appreciated the opportunity to update Mr Trump “on the Department’s review of voter fraud allegations in the 2020 election and how these allegations will continue to be pursued”.

“At a time when the country is so deeply divided, it is incumbent on all levels of government, and all agencies acting within their purview, to do all we can to assure the integrity of elections and promote public confidence in their outcome,” he wrote.

Mr Barr earlier this month pushed back on the President’s claims of voter fraud, telling the Associated Press that while FBI agents and US Attorneys were following up on specific allegations, “to date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election”.

In his letter, Mr Barr went on to praise Mr Trump, concluding by saying he would “spend the next week wrapping up a few remaining matters important to the administration and depart on December 23rd”.

A big disappointment! https://t.co/esmB5HrJlH

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 12, 2020

On Saturday, Mr Trump slammed the Attorney-General over revelations that he was aware of multiple investigations into Hunter Biden, but worked to keep them secret before the election.

“A big disappointment!” he tweeted in response to a post from commentator Todd Starnes, who called for Mr Barr to be fired.

He later wrote, “Why didn’t Bill Barr reveal the truth to the public, before the Election, about Hunter Biden. Joe was lying on the debate stage that nothing was wrong, or going on – Press confirmed. Big disadvantage for Republicans at the polls!”

Mr Barr, who previously served as Attorney-General under President George H.W. Bush in 1990, was appointed by Mr Trump in February last year, replacing Jeff Sessions.

The former Alabama Senator had drawn the ire of the President for his decision early in the administration to recuse himself from any Russia-related investigations, paving the way for the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

In his letter, Mr Barr said Mr Trump’s achievements were “all the more historic because you accomplished it in the face of relentless, implacable resistance”.

“Your 2016 victory speech in which you reached out to your opponents and called for working together for the benefit of the American people was immediately met by a partisan onslaught against you in which no tactic, no matter how abusive and deceitful, was out of bounds,” he wrote.

“The nadir of this campaign was the effort to cripple, if not oust, your administration with frenzied and baseless accusations of collusion with Russia. Few have weathered these attacks, much less forge ahead with a positive program for the country.”

One Mr Barr’s last acts was the appointment of US Attorney John Durham as Special Counsel to continue his investigation into the origins of the Russia probe, including possible misconduct by the FBI and intelligence agencies.

Mr Durham, who has already charged one FBI employee in his investigation, was appointed to the role “to provide him and his team with the assurance that they could complete their work, without regard to the outcome of the election”, Mr Barr said in a letter to Congress on December 1.

Mr Barr’s resignation came as members of the electoral college met in each state to formally vote for Joe Biden as the winner of the election.

Mr Biden is due to give a speech on Monday night, where he will encourage America to “turn the page”.

Despite the formal vote, the Trump campaign has vowed to continue its legal challenges attempting to overturn results in key states including Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, Arizona and Nevada.