William Barr Resigns as Attorney General Amid Tensions With Donald Trump

President Donald Trump's Attorney General, William Barr, has resigned, according to a tweet that the president sent out on Monday evening. Trump wrote that his relationship with Barr has been a "good one" and that the Attorney General will be resigning to spend time with his family during the holidays. Not only does this news come amid reports of growing tensions between Trump and Barr, but it also came around the same time that former Vice President Joe Biden formally won the presidency after receiving the official outcome from the Electoral College on Monday.

While Biden has been the projected winner of the presidential election for over a month now, Trump and his legal team have continued to try to fight the outcomes in various battleground states, alleging (without evidence) that there was widespread voter fraud. In early December, Barr contradicted the president's stance on the election outcome, as he said that the Department of Justice had not found any evidence of large-scale voter or election fraud. He told the Associated Press that federal prosecutors and the FBI looked into complaints that they received about possible fraud. However, they did not find evidence that there was widespread fraud in the election that would have invalidated Biden's win. Barr told AP, "Most claims of fraud are very particularized to a particular set of circumstances or actors or conduct. They are not systemic allegations. ... And those have been run down; they are being run down." He added, "Some have been broad and potentially cover a few thousand votes. They have been followed up on."

Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. 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...

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

Barr's admission directly undercut the president's narrative, who has falsely insisted that he won the election, as CNBC noted. It also undermined the Trump campaign's legal efforts to challenge the outcome of the election in key battleground states. Two lawyers from the Trump campaign, Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis, released a statement in which they criticized Barr and the Justice Department for his comments. Their statement claimed, in part, "Again, with the greatest respect to the Attorney General, his opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of the substantial irregularities and evidence of systemic fraud."

Barr will resign sometime before Christmas, as Trump wrote in his tweets. The president also included an official letter from the Attorney General in which he informed Trump that he would be resigning from his post. Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will serve as the acting Attorney General in light of Barr's departure.