Reports: Barr Considering Resigning Over Trump Tweets, ‘Interference’ in DOJ; UPDATE: Spox Denies

19.02.2020 06:00

Reports breaking Tuesday night by The Washington Post, later confirmed by CNN, ABC News and the Associated Press state that Attorney General William Barr has told associates he is considering resigning over President Trump’s tweets and ‘interference’ with the Department of Justice.

UPDATE: Barr spokeswoman Kerri Kupic tweeted, “Addressing Beltway rumors: The Attorney General has no plans to resign.”

Addressing Beltway rumors: The Attorney General has no plans to resign.

— KerriKupecDOJ (@KerriKupecDOJ) February 19, 2020

One can parse the denial as “no plans to resign” not being the same as considering resigning, but that’s the statement.

Attorney General William Barr, November 2019 file image.

CNN’s Kaitlin Collins reported, “CNN: Attorney General William Barr has considered resigning over President Trump’s interference with Justice Department matters, mainly his tweets, according to a source close to the situation.”

CNN: Attorney General William Barr has considered resigning over President Trump’s interference with Justice Department matters, mainly his tweets, according to a source close to the situation. @kaitlancollins

— Shimon Prokupecz (@ShimonPro) February 19, 2020

ABC News:

Just hours after President Donald Trump openly defied his public pleas to stop tweeting about criminal matters in the Justice Department, Attorney General Bill Barr told people close to Trump Tuesday that he is considering resigning over the tweets that Barr had previously told ABC News make it “impossible” to do his job, sources tell ABC News.

…In an exclusive interview with ABC News last week, Barr had warned Trump that his tweets about the DOJ, in particular the sentencing process of his former long-time advisor Roger Stone, were disrupting his ability to manage the department.

“I’m not going to be bullied or influenced by anybody.” Barr said. “Whether it’s Congress, newspaper editorial boards, or the president. I’m gonna do what I think is right. And, you know, the, I think the — I cannot do my job here at the department with a constant background commentary that undercuts me.”

The AP:

Attorney General William Barr has told people close to him he’s considering quitting his post after President Donald Trump wouldn’t heed his warning to stop tweeting about Justice Department cases, an administration official told The Associated Press…

The Washington Post, which broke the story, headlined: “Barr has told those close to Trump he is considering quitting over the president’s tweets about Justice Dept. investigations”

Attorney General William P. Barr has told people close to President Trump — both inside and outside the White House — that he is considering quitting over Trump’s tweets about Justice Department investigations, three administration officials said, foreshadowing a possible confrontation between the president and his attorney general over the independence of the Justice Department.

So far, Trump has defied Barr’s requests, both public and private, to keep quiet on matters of federal law enforcement. It was not immediately clear Tuesday if Barr had made his posture known directly to Trump.

The administration officials said Barr seemed to be sharing his position with advisers in hopes the president would get the message that he should stop weighing in publicly on the Justice Department’s ongoing criminal investigations.

“He has his limits,” said one person familiar with Barr’s thinking, speaking on the condition of anonymity, like others, to discuss internal deliberations.

…Some people familiar with Barr’s thinking cautioned that he would not make a hasty decision to leave, and it is unclear what precisely would trigger him to take such a dramatic step…

President Trump spoke to reporters earlier Tuesday about Barr, as he prepared to board Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, outside Washington, D.C., for a four day West Coast trip for campaigning and official business.

Excerpt from White House transcript:

Q Do you have confidence in your Attorney General? First —

THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, I have total confidence in my Attorney General.

Q And do you agree with his statement that he — that you should stop tweeting about Justice Department issues?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, people like that. But, you know, everybody has the right to speak their mind. And I use social media. I guess I use it well, because here I am. I’m here. And I probably wouldn’t have gotten here without social media because I certainly don’t get fair press.

So I wouldn’t have gotten here without social media and, perhaps, with all of the hoaxes. You had the impeachment hoax, you had the Mueller hoax, you had the “Russia, Russia, Russia” nonsense. All scams. And if I didn’t have social media, I probably wouldn’t be here. So I’m very happy with social media.

But I think he’s doing an excellent job. He’s a strong guy. I never spoke to him about the Roger Stone situation. Roger Stone, just so you know, never worked — he didn’t work for my campaign. There might’ve been a time — way early, long before I announced — where he was somehow involved a little bit. But he was not involved in our campaign at all. And I think it was a very, very rough thing that happened to Roger Stone.

Because when you look what happened with Comey after a 78-page, horrific report, when you look at what happened to McCabe with a recommendation of prosecution, and you look at all of these other people, and then you look at what happened to General Flynn, a highly respected man — look at — I mean, his life has been destroyed. If you’re looking at Roger Stone for a tweet and some other things — you take a look at what’s happening to these people. Somebody has to stick up for the people.

So, my social media is very powerful. I guess, Mark Zuckerberg just recently said, “Trump is number one in the world” on social media, which is a very nice statement, I guess. Certainly it’s something you can be at least a little bit proud of. But it means I have a voice so I’m able to fight the fake news.

Q Has the Attorney General threatened to resign over your tweets? And then, also, he said that your comments on Twitter are making it “impossible” to do his job. Are you making his job impossible?

THE PRESIDENT: Well, but it allows me — yeah, I do make his job harder. I do agree with that. I think that’s true. He’s a very straight shooter. We have a great Attorney General, and he’s working very hard. And he’s working against a lot of people that don’t want to see good things happen, in my opinion. That’s my opinion, not his opinion. That’s my opinion. You’ll have to ask what his opinion is.

But I will say this: Social media, for me, has been very important because it gives me a voice, because I don’t get that voice in the press. In the media, I don’t get that voice. So I’m allowed to have a voice.

Q Do you think he could still do his job with integrity, though?

THE PRESIDENT: Oh, yeah.

Q He says it’s making it hard for him to do his job with integrity.

THE PRESIDENT: He’s a very — he’s a man with great integrity. The Attorney General is a man with incredible integrity.

Now, just so you understand, I chose not to be involved. I’m allowed to be totally involved. I’m actually, I guess, the chief law enforcement officer of the country, but I’ve chosen not to be involved.

But he is a man of great integrity. But I would be — I could be involved if I wanted to be.