Attorney General Bill Barr broke with President Trump on Monday, saying he has no plans to appoint a special counsel to look into 2020 election fraud or into Hunter Biden’s “tax affairs.”
“I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and I have no plan to do so before I leave,” Barr said in his last press conference before he steps down from the post on Wednesday.
“I think to the extent that there’s an investigation, I think that it’s being handled responsibly and professionally,” he told the press about the investigation into Hunter Biden. “To this point I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and I have no plan to do so before I leave.”
In the same press conference, Barr undercut the president by stating that he believes Russia was behind the cyberespionage operation targeting the U.S. government, whereas President Trump suggested that China was responsible.
According to Fox News, a government source confirmed that the former vice president’s son is, in fact, being probed as part of a grand jury investigation. Joe Biden himself, however, is reportedly not the subject of a grand jury investigation at this time.
The same source said that the investigation into Hunter Biden is partly based on Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) regarding suspicious foreign transactions, while another source said the SARs had to do with “China and other foreign nations.”
Fox News reports:
A Treasury Department official, who did not comment on the investigation, spoke broadly about SARs, telling Fox News that SARs are filed by financial institutions “if there is something out of the ordinary about a particular transaction.”
The official told Fox News that the mere filing of a SAR does not mean there has been a criminal act, or violation of regulations, but instead, flags that a transaction is “out of the ordinary” for the customer. The official noted, though, that a SAR could be part of a money laundering or tax investigation.
The investigation, according to a source familiar with the matter, began in 2018.
Barr’s resignation was announced last week. Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will take over.
The attorney general had earned the president’s ire by failing to make known earlier in the year that the younger Biden is being investigated.
“Why didn’t Bill Barr reveal the truth to the public, before the Election, about Hunter Biden. Joe was lying on the debate stage that nothing was wrong, or going on — Press confirmed,” President Trump tweeted last week. “Big disadvantage for Republicans at the polls!”
Barr also said that, in his estimation, there is no evidence that voter fraud changed the outcome of the election.
“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election,” the attorney general told AP, adding that “There’s been one assertion that would be systemic fraud and that would be the claim that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results. And the DHS and DOJ have looked into that, and so far, we haven’t seen anything to substantiate that.”
On Monday, he stated that while he is “sure” there was voter fraud in the 2020 election, he did not feel it merits a special counsel and sees “no basis” for the federal government to seize voting machines and examine them for possible fraud.
“Off the top of my head, I’m not going to opine on a constitutional issue as far as the power goes,” he said, adding: “I’m sure there was fraud in this election, but I was commenting on the extent to which we had looked at suggestions or allegations of systemic or brace fraud that could affect the outcome of the election, and I already spoke to that, and I stand by that statement.”
Barr also commented on the probe being conducted by U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is investigating the origins of the Russia probe and whom Barr appointed special counsel.
“Before the election, as you know, I designated John Durham as a special counsel because I wanted to provide him and his team with assurance that they’d be able to finish their work, and they’re making good progress now, and I expect they will be able to finish their work,” the outgoing attorney general explained. “And I am hoping that the next administration handles that matter responsibly.”
