Former attorney general Bill Barr told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl that he realized early on that Donald Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the November 2020 election were “all bullshit,” according to a new book by Karl.
As reported in Rolling Stone, Barr claims he suspected from the beginning that Trump’s claims would prove to be untrue, but felt the Justice Department needed to unofficially investigate them to allay public skepticism in the election results.
“My attitude was: It was put-up or shut-up time. 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 bullshit,” Barr said.
As has been reported here at NatZero previously, Barr never opened a formal investigation into the claims made by Trump, but he inquired with cybersecurity experts at the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, who told him there was no evidence of any malfeasance. Shortly before resigning in December 2020, Barr told reporters that there was no evidence of election fraud.
Trump was not pleased. “How the fuck could you do this to me? Why did you say it?” Trump said at a meeting in the White House with Barr and others before adding, “You must hate Trump. You must hate Trump.”