Attorney General William Barr speaks during a news conference, Monday, Dec. 21, 2020 at the Justice Department in Washington. (Michael Reynolds/Pool via AP)
By Michael Balsamo
Breaking with President Donald Trump, outgoing Attorney General William Barr said Monday he saw “no reason” to appoint a special counsel to look into the president’s claims of election fraud or the tax investigation into the son of President-elect Joe Biden.
In his final press conference, Barr also broke with Trump in reinforcing that federal officials believe Russia was behind the cyberespionage operation targeting the U.S. government. Trump had suggested without evidence that China could be responsible.
Barr said the investigation into Hunter Biden's financial dealings was “being handled responsibly and professionally.”
“I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and I have no plan to do so before I leave,” he said.
Barr also told The Associated Press in a previous interview that he had seen no evidence of widespread voting fraud, despite Trump's claims to the contrary. Trump has continued to push baseless claims even after the Electoral College formalized Biden's victory on Dec. 14.
Trump — angry that Barr didn’t publicly announce the ongoing, two-year investigation into Hunter Biden — has consulted on special counsels with White House chief of staff Mark Meadows, White House counsel Pat Cipollone and outside allies, according to several Trump administration officials and Republicans close to the White House who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss private matters.
Beyond appointing a special prosecutor to investigate the younger Biden, the sources said Trump was interested in having another special counsel appointed to look into his own baseless claims of election fraud. Trump has even floated the idea of naming attorney Sidney Powell as the counsel on election fraud — though Powell was booted from Trump's legal team after she made a series of increasingly wild conspiratorial claims about the election.
Naming a special counsel would make it harder for Biden to shut down investigations. But it’s not clear how it could be done without buy-in from Justice officials. And if Trump was expecting his newly named acting attorney general, Jeff Rosen, to go further than Barr on either matter, he could end up quickly disappointed.
Barr said the hack of U.S. government agencies “certainly appears to be the Russians.”
In implicating the Russians, Barr was siding with the widely held belief within the U.S. government and the cybersecurity community that Russian hackers were responsible for breaches that have affected multiple government agencies, including the Treasury and Commerce departments.
Hours after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a radio interview that Russia was “pretty clearly” behind the hacks, Trump sought to undercut that message — and downplay the severity — by tweeting that the “Cyber Hack is far greater in the Fake News Media than in actuality.” He also said China could be responsible even though no credible evidence has emerged to suggest anyone other than Russia might be to blame.
Tensions in Ukraine continue to rise. According to NATO and U.S. officials, Russian troops are still being built up despite Moscow's claims of de-escalation. However, Ukraine does not believe the troops are enough to mount an invasion. The government in Kyiv has also reported several cyber attacks against its defense agencies and banks which is the largest attack in the country's history. Foreign Affairs Reporter based in Ukrain, Terrell Starr, joined Cheddar to discuss more
A Senate bill unveiled on Wednesday looks to tackleonline safety for children by regulating Big Tech and social media platforms to deter users from content that can harm their mental health. Irene Ly, a policy counsel for the age-based ratings and review organization Common Sense Media, joined Cheddar News to break down the potential of the Kids Online Safety Act. "We can't be imposing such a big burden on parents to be doing it all on theirselves," Ly said. "I think you also have to keep in mind that parents often didn't grow up with social media, so they don't understand what it's like to be addicted to social media or really understand how they work."
The Federal Reserve minutes from its January meeting are indicating it's sticking to an interest rate hike in March, but what does the report coupled with ongoing inflation mean for investors going forward? Scott Brown, a market strategist at LPL Financial, joined Cheddar News to break down the minutes and talk about how investors might navigate the rest of the year. "it seems like the market is kind of inclined to trade off these headlines, really, through the first half of the year," he said. "And then, oh, don't forget, we've got midterm elections, which always tend to add a little bit of volatility in the second half of the year." Brown noted that the path forward for stock investors in 2022 would be "rockier" than last year.
Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) have introduced a new bill to afford greater protection to minors on social media. The genesis of the Kids Online Safety Act came from a Facebook whistleblower case exposing the harm apps can have on the mental health of young girls.
The Chinese government brought the sitcom "Friends" back to its streaming services. However, it had instances of LGBTQ+ references left out, after the series had been banned on Chinese streaming platforms for years.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared a national public order emergency as a 'last resort' to restore order after protests have significantly disrupted daily life and impacted the local economy since the protests began. It is the first time in 50 years a Canadian government has taken this type of action. Myah Ward, breaking news reporter at Politico, joins Cheddar News to discuss.
Almost a decade after facing a parent's worst nightmare, the families of the young students killed in the Sandy Hook School shooting reached a settlement with gun manufacturer Remington, makers of the Bushmaster AR-15 used in the crime. David Pucino, deputy chief counsel, Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence joined Cheddar News to discuss the families' case and how its strategy brought about the legal settlement. "They built a really great case showing the way that Bushmaster developed its advertising to drive sales using those toxic messages.
A new analysis reveals that for more than two decades, the West has been the driest it has ever been since 800 A.D. The drought which began in 2000 has brought more devastating wildfires and draining water reserves well below healthy levels. Climate Scientists and Adjunct Associate Research Scientist at Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University,Benjamin Cook, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
