Published on: Monday, December 14, 2020

Attorney General William Barr will leave office before Christmas, the president Trump announced in a tweet Monday after Joe Biden received enough votes to be officially considered president-elect by the Electoral College, which was meeting in every state (article available here). In a letter to the president, Barr said he is proud to have played a role in Trump's administration, and said he would depart December 23. Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will become acting attorney general.

Earlier this month, Barr said the DOJ found no evidence of widespread election fraud, directly contradicting President Trump's baseless claims that the election was stolen by Democrats. The remarks outraged the president, who fired back that Barr "hasn't done anything" and "hasn't looked" for voter fraud.

Barr joined the administration halfway through the president's term, and quickly emerged as one of the president's most loyal defenders. But he came under intense criticism from Democrats and many in the legal community — including even current federal prosecutors — for actions that raised questions about the department's independence.

Barr was nominated in late 2018 to replace Jeff Sessions, a former Alabama senator whose time as attorney general was in large part defined by relentless attacks from the president — in private and in public — because Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation.