Jonathan Ernst | Reuters Former Attorney General William Barr singled out allegations of widespread fraud during talks with President Donald Trump after the 2020 election, but Trump refused to believe the results were legal, Barr said in a recorded testimony presented to Monday. In comments to the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, Barr presented Trump’s allegations of electoral fraud as a hoax. Barr’s testimony, presented at the panel’s second public hearing detailing the findings of his inquiry, portrayed Trump as unwilling to believe his attorney general at the time when Barr dismissed false allegations about the election results. “After the election, he did not seem to be listening,” Barr said, describing his interactions with Trump following the ouster of former President Joe Biden. Barr publicly stated that there was no widespread electoral fraud in an interview published in the Associated Press in December 2020. He resigned the same month. Barr said during his testimony to the commission that Trump’s false allegations about the election contributed to his decision to leave the government. House investigators cited Barr’s testimony as they described the efforts of Trump and his allies to spread baseless allegations of fraud after the 2020 election. 2021, forcing lawmakers to flee as they confirm Biden’s victory at the Electoral College. Ever since he left office, Trump has continued to falsely claim that the election was rigged and stolen. He has not ruled out the possibility of running for president in 2024. Barr met with the president at the White House in late November 2020, after the election, the former attorney general said. Trump told the meeting that there was “major fraud” and that “once the facts are revealed, the election results will be reversed.” Then, Barr said, Trump claimed that the Justice Department does not believe it has a role to play in investigating the fraud allegations. Barr said he defended the Justice Department’s neutrality at the meeting, noting to Trump that the Justice Department “does not take a position on the election” and that “the department is not an extension of your legal team.” Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kouchner, and then-President’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows spoke with Barr after the rally. The two suggested to Barr that they were convinced that Trump had the idea that the election was lost, according to the former attorney general. However, days later, Trump went to Fox News and broke the Justice Department, proposing more unproven cases of electoral fraud. “I was a little heartbroken, because I thought, my boy, if he really believes these things, he’s lost touch – he’s detached from reality if he really believes them,” Barr said, describing Trump’s continued election stance. Following Barr’s comments to the AP, Trump met again with his attorney general at the White House and reiterated his false allegations of electoral fraud. There, according to Barr, the attorney general told the president that “the allegations of fraud were bulls —-“. Barr reiterated that “they lost a whole month on the Dominion ballot box and were stupid allegations.” – CNBC’s Kevin Breuninger contributed to this story.
