Trump and Barr Had “Contentious” Meeting After Justice Department Found No Evidence of Election Fraud

According to a source within the Justice Department who did not go on the record, President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr had a “contentious” meeting after the president summoned Barr to the White House following the Justice Department’s announcement that it did not find evidence to support the president’s claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent.

Barr had told The Associated Press about the Justice Department’s findings and his interview angered the president, who has continued to push baseless conspiracy theories and mounted flimsy legal efforts in a bid to overturn election results.

“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” Barr told the AP.

But President Trump’s attorneys Rudy Giuliani and Jenna Ellis disputed Barr’s statements, arguing that Barr’s “opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of the substantial irregularities and evidence of systemic fraud.”

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There is no evidence to support the president’s claims of widespread election fraud.

A recent statement from the federal Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), part of a joint statement from the Election Infrastructure Government Coordinating Council and the Election Infrastructure Sector Coordinating Executive Committees, revealed the agencies found “no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.” The statement went on to refer to the 2020 general election as “the most secure in American history.”

Barr has also taken hits from right-wing media outlets that had otherwise exalted him for turning the Justice Department into an arm of the executive branch and defending the president from controversies.

“For the attorney general of the United States to make that statement — he is either a liar or a fool or both,” said Fox Business host Lou Dobbs, adding that Barr “appeared to join in with the radical Dems and the deep-state and the resistance.”

Greg Kelly, a host on Newsmax, said, “Some of us are wondering if he is a warrior with the Constitution or if he’s just a bureaucrat.” The far-right Gateway Pundit, a site known for publishing conspiracy theories, called Barr “a fraud,” branding him “totally deaf, dumb and blind.”

Alan Herrera

Alan is a writer, editor, and news junkie based in New York.