was bill barr. thank you very much. let's go to senior analyst elie hogue is with me. elie, we'll get to the fact that this was attorney general bill barr, but on the substance of this, the nation's top cop, from the doj, no fraud. is this just finally case closed, biden won, it's over? >> reporter: brooke, if you're donald trump and bill barr of all people are telling you it's over, it's over. this is and should be a death blow for all the conspiracy theories, because let's remember who bill barr is. he's shown us this over the last two years when he has continually bent the law, bent the truth, bent the facts to fit donald trump's narrative. but here's the thing. you can't just make stuff up. and bill barr told the thousands of women and men who work at doj a few weeks ago, he said, we're changing the rules now. you can investigate potential voter fraud and we'll announce it if you find anything. well, guess what? here we are a couple weeks later and the good non-partisan people who work every day

i think the president really does believe that bill barr should have stepped forward and said something about it. one thing we know and we said about barr when named in the first place he is an institutionalist. he values these things which are important in terms of norms and expectations of his role. that puts him at odds with the president. it would be nice to see the situation not be something that would bubble up right before the end of the trump administration. but i do think barr was someone essential to the president and honestly gave him a fair shot at winning this election in a lot of ways that would not have been the case had he not been in that role prior. >> bret: mara, looking back a little bit further december 3rd, the president has asked about the attorney general's comments about not seeing widespread voter fraud. take a listen. >> mr. president, can i ask you to respond to the comments by your attorney general who indicated he has not seen at this point in the evidence of fraud enough to overturn the election results? if, in fact, why is now not the time to concede? >>

bill barr says that the phone, nothing at all. rudy giuliani said, well, you haven't spoken to any of the witnesses that we have brought forward to have spoken under through a subpoena. we've also produced evidence of where the machines might have changed votes and you haven't looked at that. you simply haven't done your homework, but bill barr was aware that sort of thing was going to come because he told the associated press that many people know what the department of justice to investigate any time. they think there's something wrong as if this is some sort of catch all. but he seems to be saying, look, we looked at it, there's nothing there. and so we can't really do anything about it. so be interesting to see what don't trump reaction will be. you remember, of course, the man who is head of his cyber security protection unit, as part of the department security came out and said this was the more secure election in american history. donald trump said yes, it was apart from the fraud that the democrats perpetuated on it, and t

william barr was attorney general when president george h.w. bush lost his re-election campaign in 1992 to billliam barr stayed on the job then as attorney general right up to the morning of inauguration day on january 20th, 1993. bill barr remained in his job as attorney general until the very last second of the very last minute in 1993, but this time bill barr is leaving the job and i'm being careful here not to use the word, resign, because we don't know if bill barr is resigning or being fired. but bill barr is leaving the job next week. one full month earlier than he left the last time. why? joining us now is someone with decades of experience in the justice department, glenn kirchner. he's a former federal prosecutor and an msnbc legal analyst. glenn, i read william barr's letter yesterday carefully. he doesn't say resign. donald trump didn't say fired in the treat. just leaving. that means donald trump is reserving the right to declare him fired at any point in the future. how do you read the letter? how do you read the situation? why is bill barr bailing out a month earlier than he did

the issue with bill barr, at the beginning of his tenure, that's exactly how he acted. ed in the interest of president trump as opposed to in the interest of the people, as he presented the mueller report and did so in a way that didn't exactly explain it and put it in the light that it was intended to put it. and so the fact that bill barr, at this point where the president is at his most desperate for the attorney general to say what he wants, meaning to say there was widespread fraud and things that even bill barr couldn't stomach saying, that was a bridge too far, even for the president, not to mention the hunter biden situation and other things. and despite the fact that that is as sacchrarin as you can imagine, that letter that wolf read, we know at the end of the day, this is one more person who built a good reputation for years and years in washington who is now going to go down in history maybe first and foremost as somebody who is associated with donald trump, all the good, the bad and the ugly that goes along with it. >> the letter is a perfect summation of at

bill barr's comments, to me, look like the legal practice where you try to save yourself. to me it looked like he was trying to save his own reputation by doing clean-up for a lot of the damage he has done to the department of justice. bill barr does not get credit for a revelation for something we all knew to be true coming in to today. seems like it may have been for an audience of one and looks like bill barr was sent out to go out to speak to donald trump telling him the game and the charade is over and whether or not he concedes or not, he is no longer going to be the president of the united states. the meeting today after the statement was probably really tense, but that was a message sent to one person, donald trump. >> a very powerful message. governor kasich, the president's legal team is saying the opinion appears to be without any knowledge or investigation of substantial irregularities of systemic fraud. the president's legal team hasn't produced any evidence of systemic fraud and it is not just the department of justice that found no evidence, but also the dep

i just want to go back to the point about, you know, bill barr.d a test that a lot of republicans are flunking, mainly are you going to look at this piece of paper that is white and say it is black? are you going to call the sky blue or say the sky is green? this is a basic issue facts and truth that i think bill barr probably concerned for his own legacy decided he had to speak up and distance himself from this craziness. and the president now going to georgia is being warned. we had it earlier on the program by people in his own program that by pursuing this apparently to raise money for a pack. by pursuing this may be discouraging his own party. it is an amazing meal in ballot system that is so crooked, it only steals the presidential election, but helps flip more than a dozen seeds and the republicans on the house. it doesn't make sense, bret. >> bret: right, he raised $170 million so far, the president asked. jonah, quickly you also had bill barr saying he has appointed john during the special prosecutor continuing that investigation. we expe

as already mentioned bill barr will soon be donald trump's former attorney general. barr's apparent resignation became public less than ten minutes after biden reached 270 electoral votes. as usual trump notified the nation via twitter writing this, quote, 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. deputy attorney general jeff rosen, an outstanding person, will become acting attorney general. while bill barr, indeed, wrote a parting letter to trump immediately branded by journalists as a letter in praise of the dear leader, it reads in part, i am proud to have played a role in the many successes and unprecedented achievements you have delivered for the american people. your record is all the more historic because you accomplished it in the face of relentless, implacable resistance. the letter also notes trump and barr talked about so-called election fraud allega

ask bill barr.ee this again as other republicans speak out. >> but doug, can you imagine what republicans would be saying if the roles were reversed here? >> of course i can. not only can i. basically i've written those statements in the past when i worked at the republican national committee or in the house majority leader's office. some pretty blistering statements towards president obama. if joe biden were doing this, i know exactly what they would g b saying, and that's, look, that's part of the hypocrisy of this, but ultimately, these members feel, in their district, and notice that it's more members of congress of the house than it is senators, they feel that in their district, they have to do this to stay viable to not lose in a primary two years from now. they're operating out of a place of fear, not a place of confidence. >> a.b., there's still no agreement on the stimulus. democrats have been demanding state and local funding, which is a big sticking point for republicans. republicans, mea

let's be clear -- it's not rudy giuliani versus bill barr. have very serious credibility problems. it's rudy giuliani versus the entire justice department, which has been on bill barr's orders, investigating, looking for this. they can't find it. also in doj's corner is the fbi and chris krebs. rudy is on an island by himself at this point. >> you think about all these things -- they're living in la-la land. i think about all the commissions and people he's impanelled and all that that have had to go away because he could find nothing, right? like the voter fraud and all. that but he is revealing -- he's also saying he's appointing john durham as a special counsel to look into the origins of the russian investigation into the 2016 trump campaign, which will likely carry over to the biden administration. i mean, could biden fire durham? what's going on? >> this makes it harder. let me put this in perspective. one thing prosecutors are really good at is when they have a really bad case -- we used to call them dogs -- when you have a dog, say si

bill barr has had an interesting relationship with donald trump.s appointed because he was regarded as loyal to donald trump after jeff sessions was fired because he was not considered loyal enough. people have said he has acted more as donald trump's top lawyer rather than america's top lawyer, particularly when he has intervened in cases like with michael flynn who pled guilty to lying to fbi agent, which is a crime. the department of justice withdrew those charges. he intervened in the sentencing of roger stone, close trump ally who was in trouble with the courts as well. it was bill barr who stood up and gave the first findings of the molar report into alleged russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and people said his interpretation of it made his boss looked better than the report did. something that was supported by robert mueller hself. what is interesting is there has been a bit of a gap between donald trump and bill barr over the last few months, particularly because the bar did not launch an investigation into jode biden b

the president went on to say, "just had a nice meeting with attorney general bill barr at the white house he has done an outstanding job." as per letter, bill will be leaving just before christmas to spend the holidays with his family. we will have more for you next on "the five." oh, let me come out we have the opportunity to stay, i'm sorry. dana what do you make of this. you heard me say earlier i think bill barr was being unfairly blamed by trump for not earlier disclosing during the election what was going on with hunter biden. do you think that is what is behind this early resignation? >> dana: well, we knew from about a week ago, there was an article and i believe it broke in "the new york times" that said bill barr was considering whether to resign before the end of the administration to write about what i would take from the president's comments just now is that, this is even if there are a hard feelings, perhaps, they are not showing them in public. it was eight and michael to amicable breakup and he had confidence and jeffrey rosen who i used to work with and a wonderful guy ad

you're right, the signal about bill barr, and then the pressure that he's putting on bill barr at theropriately, to investigate something where they have presented no evidence that has persuaded a single judge. there have been 41 cases, more than 24 have either been dismissed or withdrawn, and they've acknowledged in court that there is no fraud, they didn't present a single piece of evidence of so-called fraud. in any of these cases. and the so-called hearings that are being held around the country have so far been in hotels and other locations, they have not been real hearings, they're just partisan -- partisan meetings with rudy giuliani and some of the other lawyers, kristen. >> that's right, andrea. and i think that fact check is so important. we went to follow up with president trump and you saw him leave the room, a number of my colleagues and i tried to get followups to him. but you're right, so far there has been no fraud proven in court. and one of the things i wanted to ask was the fact that one of his top allies, lindsey graham, was in the room, and of course lindsey graha

you have to take it from bill barr about over anybody else.alking to the president's advisers and my sources the last several days, the president knows he has lost this election. the president knows these election challenges are going nowhere. one adviser told me he sees the writing on the wall. so what we are left with at this point is a fund-raising ploy. the president every time he tweets or says these things on fox, he is making more money to the tune of 170 million dollars. it's almost like we are going to build a wall and mexico is paying for it. this time i got cheated out of re-election, please send me some money is all we are seeing right now is the president trying to make more money for his future plans. >> they have raised a lot of money the past month. the attorney general has just left, we are told, the white house, gloria. we have video of him walking out of the driveway over there getting into his little motorcade heading assume back to the department of justice. here is what he told associated. i'm quoting now. this is the att

bill barr was asked about that also today. let me play for you what he said. >> i see no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government. >> i see no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government. what did you think of his answer? is there a legal basis for any of this? >> the truth is there's not authority in the federal government to go seizing a state's voting machines. so it is as the colonel said twrsha sign of the desperation. i suppose if the desperation gets too great we do have the 25th amendment out there that says the vice president and a majority of the cabinet can declare the president incapacitated. so there is a fail safe even if it gets really, really crazy. >> i guess we're not there yet, julie, but these conversations they did happen. that seems to be clear what happened in the oval office. sidney powell being there now three times in the last few days. do you have a sense how serious people are taking these conversations within the white house? >> well, i think within the white house they

is gone, bill barr is leaving. he tweeted, "our relationship has been a very good one." obviously not here at the end or bill barr would not be leaving just days before trump himself leaves. so tell me why he's doing this now. is it just out of, you know, complete anger in a split over bill barr not backing him on the election when bill barr said it was a safe election or does trump have other plans? >> reporter: well, i think their relationship had deteriorated to a point where it was a question daily for white house staffers whether or not barr was going to be fired or some of them thought maybe bill barr could leave. and you know, what it started to resemble over the weekend where the president is publicly calling out bill barr, not answering questions on whether or not he's going to stay on as attorney general, it looked a lot like the way the president treated jeff sessions. i don't think he'd gotten to the point where he was making fun of the way bill barr was speaking yet like he did with sessions but that i

bill barr the legacy. bill barr, act ii. this stretch in the justice department.is the lingering legacy? >> reporter: i wish a nicer way to say this. bill barr has been a disgrace. been a disgrace to the attorney general position, to the justice department, to himself. here's what i mean by that. i served at doj under three republican appointed ags, one democrat appointed ag and taught under both administration early and often, all you have is your credibility and independence. without those things you cannot stand up in a podium in a courtroom and say, elie honig representing the united states. bill barr did the opposite. lied to the american public over and over from mueller to his reasons for getting involved in flynn and roger stone, to his efforts to try to keep the ukraine scandal under wrap. he has completely compromised the doj's independence and used doj for political ends. let's not forget just a few months ago bill barr was out there mimicking, echoing donald trump's baseless theories about massive election fraud. i know bill barr changed his tone a cou

let's be clear, it's not rudy giuliani versus bill barr.ave very serious credibility problems. it's rudy giuliani versus the entire justice department which has been on bill barr's orders investigating this, they can't find it. and the fbi, chris wray has said this and doj, chris krebs said the same thing and got fired as a result. rudy is really on an island all by himself at this point zpl it's really -- when you think about all of these things, they're living in la la land. even i think about all of the commissions and people he's impaneled and all of that that have had to go away because he could find nothing, right? like the voter fraud and all of that. i say that because he's appointing john durham as special council which will likely carry over to the biden administration. could biden fire durham? >> one thing prosecutors are good at, when you have a dog, assign it to someone else, let someone else handle it. i had plenty assigned to me. this is the ultimate dump. trump was hoping for a great october surprise. durham by all appearanc

i'm sure that bill barr took all of these factors into consideration.ow, obviously there's a lot of discretion here. the next attorney general or the person responsible for making the decision is not necessarily bound but i think it carries a great deal of weight, certainly with respect to the public and members of caongress, it will b something that the next attorney general, it is a fact that will be considered as well. >> that's important. attorney general lynch, let me get your thoughts on the impressive initiative, the two of you teamed up with the national coalition on covid-19 and criminal justice. tell us what you learned through this effort, what you're recommending. >> well, thank you for that. and i want to thank my co-chair, judge gonzales, in this effort. we brought together 14 commissioners from all walks of the criminal justice system. we call it cops, corrections, courts, and community, studied the impact of covid-19 and the criminal justice system. not only from all parts of the criminal justice system, from both sides of the aisle. thi

and for the last couple of hours we've all be watching don't trust twitter feed expecting that bill barr might be fired because of those comments saying that he saw no widespread fraud but nothing from donald trump and as of this moment bill barr is still the attorney general of the united states at this moment yes allan functions at the white house for us thank you allan on to other news in just weeks before the 1st covert 19 vaccines are potentially distributed in the united states health experts are recommending her to get them 1st the advisory committee on immunization practices says health care workers and the elderly need to be a priority more from andy gallacher. in hospitals across the us medical staff are making preparations to receive the 1st but use of the coronavirus vaccine currently to drug makers pfizer and medina a seeking emergency approval for their drugs as the u.s. averages 150000 new cases a day the death toll according to johns hopkins university stands at close 227-0000 the advice from health experts to the c.d.c. is that the elderly and frontline medical staff sho

confidence in bill barr? he says talk to me in a few weeks. it should not be outcome-oriented. either bill barr is doing a good job as attorney general or he is not, and that does not depend on whether or not some magical evidence is conjured by barr and the doj. i think, as katie said, that is an unfair characterization. >> martha: yeah, and it is worth pointing out, when bill barr -- he saw evidence that there was spying on the trump campaign, he was one of the most, biggest bulldogs in fighting for that. i think he has been looking with the evidence lies and where it doesn't, and that's what it is right now, if anything comes to change that opinion i imagine they would look at it again. guy, thank you. katie, thank you. good to see you both. >> thanks, martha. >> martha: so, there is an election fraud hearing that we have been monitoring in nevada. it just wrapped today. this is the first official hearing for the trump campaign is expected to offer sworn testimony in front of a judge into alleged voter irr

but for the rest of the press, suddenly bill barr is honest, suddenly bill barr is a hero?e: suddenly bill barr has been doing his job, he's the attorney general of the united states, he's the attorney to the people and allegiance should be throughout the constitution and throughout tenure with the president, not just my side of the aisle, democrats ask is whether allegiance is with the president or the constitution, when he said there's absolutely no evidence of widespread voter fraud and not enough evidence of instances that would turn any state's results or overturn this election and change the outcome of this election, i think a lot of people especially on my side of the aisle thought, okay, you were steeped in reality. will talked about stories, we are entering the fairy tale phase here. there was not widespread voter fraud. when you look at state by state and the recounts, joe biden actually gains in some states like wisconsin as an example. there's a time to tell to emperor, he's naked. howie: let me move on and everybody keep their clothes on. will, the president's

lots of news from here, bill barr and all the rest. >> shannon: dr.nk you very much and great to shannon: thank you very much, great to see you tonight. the plot thickens as we learn more about the federal investigation into the financial dealings of hunter biden. there are questions about 400,$000 hole in hiset

there were some things that even he -- even he wouldn't do. >> i would say that when it counted, bill barrivered. barr came in and told mueller and his band of i nitwits to shw your cards. >> if you think bill barr was the problem for the trump administration, you're reading the wrong stuff. howie: mollie, bill barr in my view deserves credit for not publicly disclosing the investigation of hunter biden. are the mainstream media giving him credit? >> mainstream media, which is not mainstream at all, it's really far left democratic partisan activists, did a horrible job covering attorney general barr throughout the time he was attorney general. they constantly claimed things that were not true about how he was handling the trump administration and his role in it. he is someone who is very straightforward, very clear about what he believes. very much cares about the integrity of the justice department and did that no matter who liked it and who didn't like it. and he was very important, perhaps one of the only adults in washington, d.c. in the last four years. and the media did not admit how

and now bill barr has made an explicit why. they have no evidence. en though barr broke with precedent and authorized his u.s. attorneys to investigate claims of fraud, even before the election was certified. that was widely criticized. but they have nothing. and what chris krebs has been saying, i think he's -- he's a public servant who has been doing yet another public service, even having left office, by going around and making the media rounds and pointing out -- he was asked by savannah guthrie on the "today" show, how can you explain to skeptics why you know there was no fraud? he said very simply, because 90% of the votes cast in this election had a paper backup. every place where those paper ballots have been examined, they have been consistent with the machine count. nose who believe dominion software somehow changed votes from biden to trump, that's just fantasyland and manifestly disproven. good public servants like chris krebs, and now william barr, are essentially saying that, but donald trump is going to continue to repeat these baseless

bill barr, not the same case.already been criticized by the president for saying he saw no evidence of election fraud that would change the outcome of the election. just a couple weeks ago. then with these tweets over the weekend, i'm told that ultimately led the attorney general to making the decision yesterday to announce his resignation on december 23rd. while the meeting inside the white house between bill barr and president trump was agreeable, they got along, they had a good discussion and ultimately the attorney general wrote a pretty glowing report of the president and his resignation letter, the key piece of this is that barr took it upon himself to resign and show he does have a backbone. >> david, what about the timing of this? >> i think it's an effort by bill barr to save his reputation. if you look at his full two-year tenure, he backed the president repeatedly. he called covid restrictions the most serious civil violation since slavery, he minimized the mueller report and attacked mail-in balloting.

bill barr's job is to block for the deep state. >> that's news to the deep state. anwhile, the white house playing coy about whether the president has confidence in barr continuing on the job. >> does he have faith in attorney general bill barr? does he have confidence in bill barr? >> the president, if he has any personnel announcements, you'll be the first to know it. >> we're joined by barr that succeeded him at the doj but broke with him over his conduct and tenure in the trump administration calling on him to resign in february. former prosecutor and mayor candidate maya wiley is back with us. your views, donald? >> the first thing we have to stop and say because it's very important is that it's very significant that bill barr has said this because this is the last thing i think he wanted to have to say. as your lead in has shown, he engaged in numerous efforts over the last two years really to do everything he could to make donald trump an auto cratic president to make things under handed and inappropriate to get donald trump reelected. for him to go out and s

lots of news from here, bill barr and all the rest. >> shannon: dr.ram, thank you very much and great to see you tonight. >> laura: a great show. >> shannon: the plot thickens with even more with the federal investigation and the financial dealings of hunter biden. question about the 400,000

that said, i don't know what bill barr has looked at, i don't know what bill barr, how he's weighed and balanced it. i know this, he's the same guy that conservatives loved about 12 months ago, i don't think he's changed one iota since th then. >> harris: he's also the same guy that conservatives are saying that they liked and appreciated his decision to make a special counsel, i interviewed a couple people who said that yesterday on my program, that that was the right thing to do, if you want the origins of the russia investigation that where the cloud above the administration for so many weeks and months in the beginning, if you want to know how that whole thing started, you need to keep john durham in place and republicans, many of them are saying that they are liking that. we want to be able to show everybody the medal of freedom coming from the president of the united states. lou holtz has played such a huge, positive influence in so many young lives as coach and as a patriot in this country and so one of my favorite quotes from him, "no one has ever drowned and sweat," one of the

if bill barr can say this how does mcconnell refuse to acknowledge the obvious given the failure to do so. >> do you think president trump will fire attorney general barr? >> the idea i'm sure he will ridicule him. i'm sure he will summon him in some capacity to help to understand why he is not toeing the party line. if you fire him or if you let the clock run out he will no longer be the attorney general come january 21st. so the idea here that he is trying to solidify even in his absence perhaps either through firing or through the running out the clock, is probably why he is trying to install somebody who will continue the legacy of providing a cloud of innuendo about additional baseless claims. this time being what john durham would be looking at to figure out whether there was a politicization of the department of justice or an investigation with eye towards trying to prevent donald trump's initial election back in 2014. so i think he is preparing not only for the ridicule but also preparing for the ability to have somebody in place who can continue and although there is no eviden

bill barr was certainly on the list. so things may change in the next couple of hours, but certainly we've heard nothing from either the white house or the department of justice that suggest bill barr is on his way out. but we do know donald trump will not be happy with what he had from his attorney general. now to be a fly on the wall of that conversation. thank you that live in washington d.c. . well, there isn't, sadly is a professor of philosophy, yale, who is the author of both how propaganda works and how fascism works. he joins us live from new haven, connecticut via skype or it's good to talk to you jason. so what do you think he say no evidence of fraud that would change election results. right, and we've also heard mitch mcconnell and directly at least talking about a new administration on a personal level. how do you think this is going to go down with president trump? i think he's going to deny and to flock to and claim that it's fraudulent all the way until the moment at which he's off shirt, out of the whit

bill barr is unwilling to give the president what he wants in part because bill barr is unable to givehe president what he wants. there is no evidence of widespread voting fraud despite bill barr attempting to sort of gin up these specious investigations. he couldn't come up with anything. that might make the president very angry, but there's not a lot that bill barr at the end of the day can do about it. if donald trump were to fire bill barr at this point i don't think it would have a huge impact within the department of justice. one question though is whether or not bill barr's decision to appoint john durham as special counsel or form of special counsel was essentially an attempt to calm the president down and say yes, i can't substantiate or support your claims of voter fraud but here's a treat, something you can have to make yourself feel better for the next 40 days. >> harry, andrew weissman who is robert mueller's lead prosecutor told cnn this could be a play by barr to rebuild his reputation. is it possible that's the reason? is it even possible for him to attempt that at this

bill barr was the man at the moment. law enforcement official, top justice department official this country had and quickly morphed into a barber of the robert mueller investigation and enabler of different kind of justice for donald trump's closest allies, he sought to have the case against mike flynn, donald trump's first national security adviser dismissed. he was at the justice department for the resignation of mr. durham who was investigating i think the fourth investigation into the origins of the russia investigation. his top deputy resigned. it was thought to be amid a climate of political pressure. he then had a real change in fortune. donald trump then turned the circular fir9 barr over a series of events that didn't meet donald trump's expectations for continued loyalty to donald trump. but if you could -- what donald trump thinks bill barr signed up for and falling out of favor from among other things refusing to project the lie that donald trump has sold to 126 republican members of congress and millions of

action as an ally in his fraudulent claim that the election was rigged against him, attorney general bill barr today repudiated donald trump's lie about widespread voter fraud. barr, who is a staunch ally of trump and who often makes headlines for subverting the rule of law in service of trump, today put a nail in the coffin of trump's fantasy that his loss to joe biden was somehow illegitimate. in an interview, barr puts it rather bluntly. quote, to date, we have not seen fraud on the scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election. rudy giuliani and jenna ellis, tru trump's legal team accused the justice department of not sufficiently investigating claims of fraud. but of course, it's the same legal team that has also failed to produce any evidence of systematic fraud, losing case after case after case in dozens of attempts before state and federal judges. and as rudy giuliani continues to beat his dead horse, it's worth noting this scoop today, that a pardon for rudy giuliani may reportedly be in that works. from "the times," quote, rudy giuliani, president trump's lawyer

bill barr. going on to tell the a.p., associated press, there has been one assertion that has been systemic fraud, and that would be the claim that machines were programmed to skew the results. the dhs and the doj have looked into that and so far we have not seen anything to substantiate that. in other words, the president is lying. lies, lies on top of lies. it is a little late to get any kudos after letting the president carry on with these claims. none of this is true and he knows it. taking your money though, if you are sending it to him. my question for republicans in congress is why are you still playing with fire like this? why are you? a couple of examples of things you need to hear. i want you to listen to this georgia election official, gabriel sterling, reacting emotionally to the death threats, physical threats and intimidation against election workers and officials. >> asked for chris krebs, to be shot. a 20-something tech has death threats and a noose saying he should be hung for t

bill barr has had an interesting relationship with donald trump. of course he was appointed because he was a god that is very loyal to donald trump. after jeff sessions was fired because he wasn't considered loyal enough. over the last couple of years, people have said he's acted more as donald trump's top lawyer rather than america's top lawyer, particularly when he's intervened. in cases like michael flynn, former national security adviser, who pled guilty to lying to f.b.i. agents, which is a crime. but then the department of justice under william barr with through those charges, he also intervened in the sentencing of roger stone close trump, who was in trouble with the courts as well. and then you'll remember, of course, it was bill barr who stood up and gave his the farce. findings of the miller report into alleged russia interference in the 2016 presidential election. and people said his interpretation of it perhaps made his boss look better. the report actually did something that was supported by bill miller himself, robert mueller himself.

attorney general bill barr is out. president trump tweeted lateat today tbrar is resigning just before christmas. deputy attorney general jeff rosen will become the acting torney general. we look at what this means with our yamiche alcindor, of course, who covers the white house for us, so yamiche, we knew theren were some sions between the two since the attorney general said he didn't know of any evidence that there wh had been widespread fraud in this election. but what more do we make of it? >> it's tough to say because in e regard you have attorney general bill barr leaving office, praising presint trump saying that he was at times the target of an abusive system that sought to tae him down. and you have president trump tweeting that bill barr, they had a great relationship. but when you look under the surface you understand that president trump has been taking aim ne attgeneral bill barr especially after the attorney general came out and said that his officnohad see evidence of wide spread voter frd thth would hav

comes in the positions again cannot repeat as you're describing the damage that attorney general bill barr has done? >> it's not actually hard. i mean, i think a new attorney general has to look what barr did like the question what would jesus do, do what bill barr didn't and you'll be right. there are long standing precedents of how to do things and all a new attorney general has to do is take that rule book and follow it. it doesn't require legislation. sure, you have to worry for some attorney general may come along one day so you may want legislation for some things but i think 90% of the stuff is really easy to do and it just means following the department's traditions. >> let's talk about the incoming attorney general temporarily at least. will the new attorney general jeff rosen push back against trump? how does this play out? what do you think will happen in the next 28 days. >> mr. rosen is an empty suit. nobody knows. he was an baestablished lawyer d the question will be whether he wants to be accepted by a polite law-abiding society again or join team cracken. rosen is not your

what you think bill barr's legacy is going to be?hink at one time he was a good person, but i think he has something to hide now. i think trump did the right thing to get him out of there and i would like to know why somebody has not had the guts to file charges and subpoena all the bidens. robert in new york city, independent. what you think bill barr's legacy is going to be? caller: i would say remember he advised bush to pardon members of the iran contra affair. he carried over that legacy when he tried to preempt mueller's assessment of his own report. -- i would say his legacy is dead. his love letter yesterday was pardon, and his legacy will be covering up for crooks. host: that was robert in new york city. here are some comments from members of congress in the wake of this news yesterday about bill barr stepping down. it will be one week from tomorrow. ted cruz of texas, bill barr is a friend and patriot. despite vilification in the media and attacks against his character, he has served this country with honor and distinction.

i'm curious what you think, bill barr leaves certainly as a nonpartisan or objective statement one of the most controversial attorneys general since the nixon ear r the time line you were discussing sounds a little like it was what barr was hoping to get out of this including saving face. i'm curious what you think having managed white house, you know, these kind of white house situations. >> i think that, you know mike reporting that this was, you know, part of what barr wanted to be out of there, i think you have to ask why. what doesn't he want to be complicit in? if you take "the times" reporting and add what robert just reported from "washington post," that his sources are telling him to watch what happens next it brings in the two big sins in trump's eyes that barr committed were not going along with the lies about election fraud, that the angry tweets came off the supreme court, not just rejected the trump case, but humiliated the folks that brought it by basically saying there's no standing, it was beyond frivolous, something even a nonlawyer like me can understand. the second

. >> inherent in what bill barr is saying here is that joe biden won the election.r reaction? >> right. the fact that even bill barr is saying this, who has been the most loyalist to the president, who has repeatedly kind of twisted the law and the facts to try to benefit the president from the way he characterized the mueller report initially, all the way through. the fact even he it reaching this conclusion, brianna, makes it even more astonishing and egregious more republicans in congress haven't said the same. as though the sky is blue and there could not have been fraud on a scale to finish around 6.5 million or a 7 million vote margin. the fact bill barr got here makes it even, i think, underscores just how exposed these republicans in congress are and how cynical and corrosive their behavior has been in terms of allowing to undermine faith in the election which is happening among republican voters. >> ron, you have a fascinating piece on cnn.com today that's about how the gop's silence right now has eck hoes of mccary inch. tell us about that. >> look, if any

let's talk about bill barr.ve in washington as bill barr announces is he leaving the department of justice before christmas. good morning to you. >> good morning steve, ainsley and brian. attorney general bill barr says he is out next week. the attorney general praised the president in his resignation letter calling the president historic and accomplished in the face of resistan reimplaque cabe resistance. 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. a source says barr had recently irritated the president earlier this month in the middle of the president's legal challenges. barr said the justice department found no widespread voter fraud. the department also failed to reveal its investigation into hunter biden until after the election. yesterday, members of the electoral college formally cast their ballots, confirming president-elect joe biden's victory. biden followed the vote, criticiz

season, after season. ace your immune support, with centrum. >>> attorney general bill barr is considering leaving before president trump leaves office. he's not happy with the president and "not someone who takes bullying and turns the other cheek." barr and the president had a lengthy contentious meeting last week after barr told the associated press the justice department found no evidence of widespread election fraud. joining us is senior correspondent, david gregory. good to see both of you this morning. i'm curious your thoughts as we get to the point that now bill barr is apparently so unhappy, he may leave before the president leaves office, david. >> yes, this is a little clash of egos here, down at the end of the administration. look, the story of bill barr as attorney general will be a bit of a windy one. this is one where he wanted to assert some independence in some areas but was very clear and careful to do the president's bidding in other areas. democrats roundly criticize him, you heard that just a few moments ago, but any president wants someone in their attorney general w

>> does he have faith in attorney general bill barr? does he still have confidence in bill barr? personnel announcements, you will be the first to know it. >> can you tell me, was president trump upset when he heard the attorney general say that he has not seen or the doj has not uncovered evidence of widespread voter fraud enough to overturn the outcome of the election? >> i haven't spoken with the president specifically about a.g. barr or that comment. >> according to the "washington post," trump is said to be still livid at bill barr for his conclusion about the absence of fraud in the election. barr is the highest profile member of the cabinet to directly contradict trump, who continues to push completely false claims of fraud, including in that rambling 46-minute video from yesterday. as for barr's future, nbc news has learned that no decision has been made yet and some in the white house are trying to persuade the president not to fire him. for more, we're joined by senior opinion writer at "the boston globe" and msnbc contributor kimberly atkins. kimberly, good morning. th

magically after bill barr said that the justice department magically after bill barr said that thejusticet concluded there was no evidence of fraud in there was no evidence of fraud in the last presidential election. he also held back the fact that a justice department investigation has been ongoing into joe justice department investigation has been ongoing intojoe biden said son hunter biden. something that infuriated president trump who believes that were such information had been out... david, david is frozen there. we caught the end of that. donald trump furious at the attorney general hadn't pursued the investigation further into hunter biden. joe bidens on. the united states has recorded it's 300,000th death from coronavirus. the grim statistic was reach just hours after the first vanccine — outside of clinical trials was administered to an american citizen. sandra lindsay — an intensive care nurse in new york got herjab on camera in an effort to help boost public confidence in the vaccine. she said she hoped this was the beginning of the end of a long, painful period. nick bryant r

maybe because, well, the president considered firing his attorney general bill barr according to two white house officials after barr did his own investigation into voter fraud at the department of justice and said he saw no evidence of any fraud that would change the election outcome. so the president now won't even say if he still has confidence in barr. >> ask me that in a number of weeks from now. they should be looking at all of this fraud. >> so what's that? he's giving him another chance? okay, bill, if you go and find some fraud now i won't fire you? john avalon is out front now, cnn political analyst and abby philip is with us and our cnn political correspondent. abby, the president says it's rigged and flawed and all of these things that he knows to be false and he sends a liaison over to get access to this sensitive information and the doj bars trump's person from coming in. it's almost like this is scripted. so now the president's what? dangling to bill barr, oh, if you go find fraud now i won't fire you in the next 40 days? what's going on? >> it seems like, first of all,

that is repulsive self-dealing. >> one more question on bill barr, after barr -- on barr's last day, trump sends out this tweet that he wants a special counsel to investigate voter fraud. i was struck because bill barr was asked about this on monday in his final press conference and here's what he said. >> if i thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and was appropriate, i -- i would do -- i would name one but i haven't and i'm not going to. >> what do you think this means for the new guy coming in? the new acting attorney general, jeffrey rosen. >> it's going to be a difficult decision. bill barr was right you can't appoint a special counsel where there's no fact. i wish bill barr hadn't spent the m months leading up to the election, echoing the false claims of voter fraud but in the end stage he did the right thing. jeffrey rosen is going to be in office for a few weeks, and he's going to be under real pressure from donald trump. the law says only the ag can appoint a special counsel so we'll see if jeffrey rosen has integrity and backbone. >> thank you. >>> comi