Barr: No special counsel needed on election fraud or Hunter Biden

Attorney General Bill Barr undercut President Donald Trump’s election conspiracy theories on Monday, when he said he would not appoint a special counsel to investigate election fraud or Hunter Biden because there is no need.

Trump has yet to concede the election, and some allies have eveN suggested the federal government seize voting machines. Over the weekend, Trump met with appellate lawyer Sidney Powell about a potential voter fraud investigation.

Pressed by reporters on a special counsel investigation, voter fraud and talk of seizing voting machines, Barr offered little support for any such moves.

“I see no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government — wholesale seizure of machines by the federal government,” he said, adding that he stood by his statement there was no widespread fraud that would affect the outcome of the presidential election.

Dec. 21, 202002:23

The attorney general added on a potential special counsel investigation into voter fraud: “If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and was appropriate, I would do — I would name one, but I haven’t, and I’m not going to.”

Trump tweeted last week that Barr would be leaving his position as attorney general just before Christmas; Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will serve as acting attorney general for the final weeks of Trump’s term.

The president has spent months arguing there is widespread voter fraud in the election, baselessly claiming he lost the general election in November because of it. Barr, who entertained the possibility of fraud earlier this year, broke with Trump earlier this month that there was no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

Trump has also claimed without evidence that President-elect Joe Biden corruptly boosted his son’s business work overseas when he was vice president and that Hunter Biden was being paid off by foreign governments.

Barr has said authorities were properly handling an ongoing investigation into the younger Biden’s taxes and he dismissed a question about a special counsel investigation into Hunter Biden.

“To the extent that there is an investigation, I think that it’s being handled responsibly and professionally currently within the department and, 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,” Barr said.

Federal authorities investigating Hunter Biden’s taxes are examining his business dealings in China, NBC News has reported.

The investigation, which Hunter Biden announced Wednesday, was opened in 2018, the year before his father announced his candidacy for president, the source said. The inquiry was already in motion when Barr was appointed attorney general.