Day 1,425: Barr fir— resig— out as attorney general
One the biggest yes-men and enablers in Donald Trump’s cabinet, Attorney General William Barr, is out.
In what is being categorized as a “resignation,” Barr is gone after facing heat from Trump for weeks for failing to back-up Trump’s claim that there was widespread election fraud.
On social media, right-wing conspiracy theorists postulated for years that Barr was waiting to spring the ultimate trap on Trump’s opponents: locking up Hillary Clinton, revealing a widespread cabal of corruption, ensuring Trump’s staying power in the White House. Now, they’ve turned on him too, showing the danger of cozying up to the fringe right.
In his resignation letter, Barr claimed he wanted to spend more time with his family, despite Trump’s time in office ending in just over five weeks anyway.
Trump reportedly was pushing to fire Barr as recently as a few days ago.
“Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House. Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job! As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,” Trump tweeted, announcing the news.
Despite Trump’s upbeat message, he had been seriously considering firing his attorney general as recently as Sunday, people familiar with the matter said, though officials did not believe he would go through with dismissing Barr immediately.
Over the past several months aides have discouraged Trump from firing Barr. The President seemed to find a compromise way of seeing Barr out by tweeting about his “very good” relationship with him.
But the two men’s relationship was not, by aides’ estimations, very good. Trump on Friday again told officials in a meeting he wanted to fire Barr, and over the weekend did not seem moved off his position.
With Barr’s exit, set to happen next week, another fiercely loyal person in Trump’s orbit has seen that fealty is a one-way street. Those not prepared to stand with Trump and do exactly what he says every second of every day will be out the door one way or the other.
1,425 days in, 37 to go
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