Former President Donald Trump is not happy with former Attorney General William P. Barr for slapping down his allegations of voter fraud and rigged voting machines as “all bull——.”
Responding to a book excerpt from author and journalist Jonathan Karl published Sunday in The Atlantic, Mr. Trump lashed out at Mr. Barr, describing him as a “RINO,” or Republican in name only, and accusing him of helping to “facilitate the cover up of the Crime of the Century, the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!”
“It’s people in authority like Bill Barr that allow the crazed Radical Left to succeed,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “He and other RINOs in the Republican Party are being used in order to try to convince people that the election was legitimate when so many incredible facts have now come out to show conclusively that it wasn’t.”
Mr. Barr was the most high-profile administrative official to shoot down the rigged and stolen election claims that Mr. Trump and his allies turned to after President Biden was declared the winner in the 2020 election.
“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” Mr. Barr told The Associated Press on Dec. 1.
Mr. Barr told Mr. Karl the comments infuriated Mr. Trump, whom he met with shortly at the White House after the news broke of his comments.
“Did you say that?” Mr. Trump asked.
“Yes,” Mr. Barr replied.
“How the f—- could you do this to me? Why did you say it?” Mr. Trump asked.
“Because it’s true,” Mr. Barr said.
Mr. Trump responded: “You must hate Trump. You must hate Trump.”
Mr. Barr said the Trump-led effort to overturn the election results in several battleground states was a “clown show.”
“My attitude was: It was put up or shut-up time,” Mr. Barr told Mr. Karl. “If there was evidence of fraud, I had no motive to suppress it. But my suspicion all the way along was that there was nothing there. It was all bull——.”
Mr. Barr had allowed prosecutors to look into “substantial allegations” of vote irregularities that “could potentially impact the outcome” of the contest.
Mr. Barr told The Atlantic that Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell had urged him to debunk the claims, which he feared were hurting the party’s chances of defending Senate seats in Georgia and the country.
“Now it was revealed that Barr was being pushed to tell lies about the election by Mitch McConnell, another beauty, who was worried about damaging the Republicans chances in the Georgia runoff,” Mr. Trump said. “What really damaged the Senate Republicans was allowing their races to be rigged and stolen, and worse, the American people to no longer believe their vote matters because spineless RINOs like Bill Barr and Mitch McConnell did nothing.”
Mr. Trump’s stolen election claims have resonated with his most fervent followers, including the thousands that showed up in Ohio for his first campaign-style event of the 2022 midterm election season.
Numerous attendees sported “Trump Won” apparel. Mr. Trump repeated his claims, and issued his statement later in the day slamming Mr. Barr.
“Bill Barr’s weakness helped facilitate the cover up of the Crime of the Century, the Rigged 2020 Presidential Election!” Mr. Trump said.
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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