William Barr Will Resign As Attorney General, Trump Says; Deputy AG Jeff Rosen To Become Acting AG

William Barr will be leaving his position as U.S. attorney general on Dec. 23, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed via Twitter on Monday afternoon.

“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,” Trump said in a series of tweets.

“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!”

Barr has served as AG since February 2019, replacing Jeff Sessions. He had previously served as AG from 1991-1993.

Trump has spent the better part of two months claiming there was voter fraud in the 2020 election. Shortly before Trump’s tweets on Monday afternoon, the Electoral College was officially called for President-elect Joe Biden.

“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” Barr said in an interview with The Associated Press earlier in December.

“Most claims of fraud are very particularized to a particular set of circumstances or actors or conduct,” said Barr. “They are not systemic allegations. And those have been run down; they are being run down. Some have been broad and potentially cover a few thousand votes. They have been followed up on.”

“In less than two years on the job, Barr emerged as perhaps the most divisive attorney general in recent memory for a series of controversial actions, including his handling of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report on the Russia investigation and his repeated false claims about the integrity of mail-in voting,” according to NPR.

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