Trump erupted in third-person rant after Barr told reporter that he'd found no evidence of fraud: new book
Former attorney general William Barr made news by admitting to a reporter that he had found no evidence to back Donald Trump's claims of election fraud, and the former president demanded his immediate resignation over the comments.
Excerpts from Barr's forthcoming memoir, "One Damn Thing After Another," published by the Wall Street Journal recount his lunchtime conversation Dec. 1, 2020, with Associate Press reporter Mike Balsamo, who covers the Department of Justice, and the resulting fallout inside the White House.
"I knew what to expect," Barr wrote. "President Trump hailed me down to meet with him. I knew it would be an unpleasant meeting."
The former attorney general and his chief of staff Will Levy found Trump seated in his customary spot at the head of a dining room table near the Oval Office, with a television tuned in to One America News channel covering a Michigan legislative hearing on voter fraud allegations, and Barr described an awkward silence until the former president set down his remote and thrust a news clipping at him.
"Did you say this?" he snapped.
Barr admitted he had, and he told Trump that it was true -- the department hadn't found any evidence of fraud.
“But you did not have to say that!” Trump barked. “You could have just said, ‘No comment.’ This is killing me — killing me. This is pulling the rug out from under me.”
“You must hate Trump," he added, using his own name in third person. "You would only do this if you hate Trump.”
Barr assured the president he didn't hate him, and he took issue with Trump blaming the Department of Justice for failing to find evidence that did not appear to existed.
"The department is not an extension of your legal team," Barr told Trump. "Our mission is to investigate and prosecute actual fraud. The fact is, we have looked at the major claims your people are making, and they are bullshit.”
“I’ve told you that the fraud claims are not supported," Barr added, "and others have also told you this. But your legal team continues to shovel this shit out to the American people. And it is wrong.”
Watch below.
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