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Judge Jeanine calls Bill Barr a ‘reptile’ as Trumpworld turns on his attorney general

The attorney general has said they have ‘not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election’

Harriet Alexander
Sunday 06 December 2020 17:07 GMT
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Trump supporters turn on Bill Barr after he refutes voter fraud claims
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The US attorney general has become the latest bogey man for Donald Trump and his supporters, with the president's rally on Saturday night being interrupted by yells of: "Where's Bill Barr?"  

Mr Barr has angered Trump supporters, and the president himself, for failing to overturn the election.  

On Saturday night Fox News host Judge Jeanine declared with passion: "And you, Mr Barr, are so deep in the swamp you can't see beyond your fellow reptiles."

She added, spitting her words out: "And you are not the exceptional leader needed at this exceptional time in history."

On Sunday morning her Fox colleague Maria Bartiromo asked John Ratcliffe, the director of national intelligence, "Who got to Bill Barr?" — a question he deflected.

Jenna Ellis, who along with Rudy Giuliani is leading the president's election fraud battle in the courts, tweeted on Saturday that Mr Barr needed to launch an investigation into election integrity.

Mr Barr enraged the president by declaring, on Tuesday, that justice department has uncovered no evidence of widespread voter fraud that could change the outcome of the 2020 election.

“To date, we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election,” he said.

Later that afternoon Mr Barr went to the White House for a pre-planned meeting, which a source told ABC was "intense". Mr Barr was inside the building for almost three hours.

Speaking at a White House event on Thursday, Mr Trump reportedly complained about Mr Barr, who he is reportedly considering firing.  

"He hasn’t done anything. He hasn't looked," Mr Trump said.

He was also critical of Mr Barr’s statement that much of what has been presented so far by the Trump campaign and its allies amounts to allegations that belong in lawsuits, not federal crimes.

"This is not civil. This is criminal stuff. This is very bad, criminal stuff," the president said.

When asked if the Mr Barr would be the next employee out the door, Mr Trump replied, “Ask me that in a number of weeks from now."

The battle between the two men shows no sign of waning.

Mr Barr was reported on Thursday to have blocked the White House's envoy to the justice department from the building, after she was pressuring employees to share sensitive information about election fraud.

Heidi Stirrup, an ally of Mr Trump's adviser Stephen Miller, was barred from the Justice Department building after she attempted to pressure staffers into sharing sensitive information about election fraud.  

Ms Stirrup was quietly installed at the justice department as a White House liaison a few months ago.  

She was told within the last two weeks to vacate the building after top justice officials learned of her efforts to collect insider information about ongoing cases and the department’s work on election fraud, AP reported.

Mr Barr, 70, was George W. Bush's attorney general from 1991-93, before being appointed again to the post by Mr Trump in February 2019.

He initially delighted the president with his loyalty - intervening to help political friends of the president's such as Roger Stone and Michael Flynn; deliberately downplaying the results of the Mueller investigation into Russian election interference; and opening an investigation into the "deep state" that Mr Trump believes targeted his campaign.

Even Mr Stone has now turned on him, for failing to overturn the election.

In a video posted to Parler, Mr Stone said he was not surprised that Mr Barr has “suddenly determined” there is no voter fraud.  

“Bill Barr’s job is to block for the ‘deep state’,” he said. 

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