Zeldin: Barr has a 'big burden' as attorney general but he likes his job and supports Trump
Republican Rep. Lee Zeldin says he does not believe Attorney General Bill Barr will resign over President Trump's tweets.
New York. Rep. Lee Zeldin said on Wednesday that he doesn’t think Attorney General William Barr will step down from his role, which is a “big burden” because the congressman believes Barr likes his job and supports President Trump.
Zeldin, who was a member of President Trump's impeachment legal team, made the statements on “America’s Newsroom” on Wednesday, reacting to multiple reports claiming Barr told people close to him he's considering stepping down over Trump’s tweets, days after the attorney general (AG) admitted that Trump's tweeting made it "impossible for me to do my job."
The president’s tweets were regarding former Trump adviser Roger Stone. More than 1,100 former Justice Department (DOJ) employees have signed an online petition urging the attorney general to resign over perceived interference from the White House regarding the Department of Justice seeking to reduce Stone’s recommended sentence, according to Politico.
A Justice Department spokeswoman pushed back Tuesday night at reports claiming that Barr is considering stepping down, saying he “has no plans to resign."
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When host Ed Henry said “it seems to me he [Barr] is sending a signal to the president ‘please stop,’” Zeldin said: “That’s true.”
“I’m skeptical when I see these anonymous reports like what we saw last night about the AG resigning and the DOJ very quickly swatting that down,” Zeldin said. “For the attorney general, there is a big burden on his shoulders and there’s high expectations amongst the American public, amongst the president, amongst the president’s supporters.”
He then referenced U.S. Attorney John Durham, who is conducting a wide-ranging investigation of the Trump-Russia probe.
He said as Durham “is completing his work, the people want to see that the origins of the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, that there’s going to be accountability for the FISA [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act] abuse that took place and that is a responsibility on his [Barr’s] shoulders and maybe he doesn’t want the president to speak out, but the president will.”
“The president will tweet. The president is frustrated. He is demanding, with his own high expectations, he’s demanding transparency and accountability,” Zeldin added.
On Wednesday, Trump acknowledged that he does “make his [Barr’s] job harder.”
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The president went on to say, “Social media for me has been very important because it gives me a voice because I don't get that voice in the press.”
Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz’s report released in December said investigators found no intentional misconduct or political bias surrounding either the launch of the Trump-Russia investigation or the efforts to seek the controversial FISA warrant to monitor former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page in the early stages of that probe.
However, Horowitz’s report revealed there were at least 17 "significant inaccuracies and omissions" in the Page FISA applications.
Durham's inquiry has had a broader scope than Horowitz's, including a focus on foreign actors and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), while Horowitz concentrated his attention on the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
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Additionally, Durham's criminal review has had additional investigative resources not available to Horowitz.
Fox News’ Gregg Re, Morgan Phillips and Mike Arroyo contributed to this report.