U.S. Attorney General William Barr is greeted by President Donald Trump at a presentation of Public Safety Medals of Valor to officers in the East Room of the White House in Washington, U.S., May 22, 2019. REUTERS/Leah Millis
Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 12:06 pm
When asked if he would leave office, if Trump lost, Barr suggested that he would only leave if Donald Trump was clearly defeated.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) asked, “Mr. Barr, the job of the attorney general is to defend the best interests of the people and serve as the people’s lawyer. But during your time as attorney general, you have consistently undermined democracy, undermined the constitution and undermined the health, safety and well-being of the American all to personally benefit Donald now you just testified that there’s no mechanism for a president to contest an election that has clearly been won by the opponent. Mr. Attorney general, what will you do if Donald Trump loses the election on November 3rd but refuses to leave office on January 20th?”
Barr answered, “Well, if the results are clear, I would leave office.”
Jeffries followed up, “Do you believe that there is any basis or legitimacy to Donald Trump’s recent claim that he can’t provide an answer as to whether he would leave office?”
Barr said, “I really am not familiar with these comments or the context in which they occurred so I’m not going to give commentary on them.”
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There is no constitutional provision for a president and his administration staying in power if they lose. As Speaker Pelosi said on Monday if Trump loses he will be leaving office. Power will automatically go to Joe Biden at noon on Inauguration Day, and Donald Trump’s administration will no longer be running the Executive Branch of the US government.
Barr knows this, but he doesn’t want to anger Trump, so he is pretending like close losses don’t count in presidential elections.
Attorney General Barr’s answer represents a dangerous effort to undermine faith in the results of the presidential election.
People who want Trump out of office now know what they have to do. It won’t be enough to narrowly defeat Trump. He will need to be crushed and humiliated so that there is no doubt about his rejection.
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