Trump on whether he has confidence in Barr: "Ask me that in a number of weeks"
President Trump declined to say Thursday whether he still has confidence in Attorney General Bill Barr, after Barr contradicted the president's claims of widespread election fraud, which remain unproven a month after the election, despite a number of lawsuits filed in battleground states that Mr. Trump lost.
"Ask me that in a number of weeks from now. They should be looking at all of this fraud," Mr. Trump told reporters when asked directly if he still has confidence in the attorney general.
The president made the remarks during a Medal of Freedom ceremony in the Oval Office. The comment came after White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, too, sidestepped a question Wednesday about Mr. Trump's confidence in Barr.
Earlier this week, Barr told the Associated Press that U.S. attorneys and FBI agents have been working to follow up on complaints of alleged election fraud, but "to date, we have no seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election." Last month, Barr authorized U.S. attorneys to pursue any "substantial allegations" of voting irregularities.
Mr. Trump and Barr had a lengthy meeting on Tuesday, and a White House official said the president was "not happy" with Barr about his comments that there was insufficient fraud to overturn the results of the election. A White House adviser described the meeting between Mr. Trump and Barr as "tense."
Meanwhile, the president and his allies keep alleging widespread election fraud in public while they make much narrower claims in court cases that they continue to lose. The president posted a long-winded, 46-minute video full of recycled and disproven claims about the election on Facebook Wednesday.
On Thursday, the president also said he'd sign a COVID-19 relief bill as efforts continue in the Capitol to provide more economic help to Americans struggling during the ongoing pandemic.