Attorney General William Barr reiterated that he will not be giving in to the president’s demands that he appoint a special counsel to investigate the election.
Barr, the longtime loyalist of President Donald Trump, was asked by reporters during Monday’s press conference about claims of election fraud and whether it warrants the appointment of a special counsel.
He said, “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.”
Watch the video below:
Bill Barr says he will not name a special counsel to investigate Trump's (unfounded) claims of election fraud: "If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool, I would name one, but I haven't and I'm not going to." pic.twitter.com/QUAEpKX5D8
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 21, 2020
The president announced in a mid-December tweet that the attorney general would be stepping down from his post.
Barr’s press conference remark that he has not seen evidence to support the appointment of a special counsel on election fraud comes after a Friday meeting at the White House in which President Trump reportedly floated appointing lawyer Sydney Powell as special counsel.
During Monday’s press conference Barr also said that he has not seen evidence to support the appointment of a special counsel into Hunter Biden.
The attorney general told reporters, “To this point, I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel [into Hunter Biden] and I have no plan to do so before I leave.”
AG William Barr says he has “not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel” to investigate Hunter Biden and has “no plan to do so” before he leaves https://t.co/IC7ZWQEOGQ pic.twitter.com/9AvDX7Zo11
— Bloomberg Originals (@bbgoriginals) December 21, 2020
While the outgoing attorney general does not plan to appoint a special counsel, that idea has gained traction among some Republican lawmakers in Washington, D.C.
In a letter to Trump in early December, 27 House Republicans urged the president to lean on the attorney general in an effort to appoint a special counsel.
The Republicans accused Barr of being unwilling to “investigate the irregularities your campaign and other elected officials across the nation have alleged.”
Barr first broke with the president during an interview with the Associated Press in which he said that the Department of Justice has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud that would change the election results.