From election night 2020 and continuing his last days in office, Donald Trump disbanded and dragged America with him, to the point that his followers fired the U.S. Capitol with two weeks to go. mandate. Axios takes you inside the collapse of a president with a special series.
Episode 4: Trump ignites what is possibly the most consistent relationship in his cabinet.
Attorney General Bill Barr was sitting behind a chair in the private dining room next to the oval office, which rises above Donald Trump. The president sat at the head of the table. It was December 1, almost a month after the election, and Barr received some sharp advice to get out of the chest. The president’s theories about a stolen election, Barr told Trump, were “shit.”
White House attorney Pat Cipollone and some other room assistants were surprised Barr had come out and said it, even though they knew it was true. For good measure, the attorney general issued a warning that the new legal team Trump was betting on for his future was a “clown.”
Trump had dragged Barr angrily to explain himself after seeing a groundbreaking AP story all over Twitter, with the headline, “Answering Trump, Barr says there is no widespread electoral fraud.” But Barr did not back down. Three weeks later, there would be no more.
The relationship between the president and his attorney general was arguably the most consistent in Trump’s cabinet. And during the six months leading up to this meeting, the relationship between the two men had quietly disintegrated. No one was more loyal than Bill Barr. But for Trump it was never enough.
The president had become too manic even for his most loyal allies, increasingly listening to conspiracy theorists who echoed his own opinions and offered an illusion, an alternative reality.
In the late summer of 2020, Trump and Barr regularly quarreled over how to handle the growing Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the death of George Floyd while in police custody. When the national movement developed, some protests had given way to violence and looting. Trump wanted the U.S. government to crack down on riots.
The president wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act and send the military to U.S. cities. He wanted troops on the street. Some strong allies from outside, including Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton, demanded it. The ungrateful job of stepping back fell on Barr.
Sometimes Barr was the heat shield between the president and the chairman of the joint chief of staff, Mark Milley, and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, both firm targets of Trump’s fantasies of U.S. troops landing in Portland.
The president regularly convened a group of national security leaders in the Oval Office, and a mid-August meeting was particularly unstable.
From his seat behind the Resolute desk, an agitated Trump told Barr he was going to do it something, and do it immediately: make an announcement, send troops, something. Just go in and sort it out, the president ordered. He wanted a demonstration of devastating and provocative force.
Barr disagreed. He thought the heat of the protests was gradually diminishing. He explained the law enforcement strategy and his view that military intervention would back down. Federal investigators were already looking for warlords in the protests.
Also, Barr asked, what was the end to add the military to the mix? Federal forces could end up stranded in a city like Portland indefinitely.
Trump felt increasingly frustrated, but Barr backed away more strongly, keeping his ground in front of everyone in the room. He was prepared, willing and able to be strong, he said. But, he added, we also need to be thoughtful.
What would these soldiers do, Barr pointed out. Just get up and call yourself? Trump didn’t care. We look weak and that is hurting us. Then he stuck his hand in the Resolute desk.
“No one supports me,” Trump shouted. “No one gives me any shit support.”
Trump got up and walked out of the oval office into his private dining room, leaving Barr and the others behind. Barr looked at a red-faced White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, and joked, “Well, it went well.”
The constant annoyance about the aggressiveness they should be was a serious irritant to the relationship. Trump wanted television demonstrations of shock and fear, especially in Portland and Seattle.
Barr was not a pacifist, but he thought Trump’s ideas were more aggressive than necessary. They fought throughout the summer, and Barr later privately compared the experience to “Groundhog Day.” It was always Groundhog Day trying to explain things to Trump.
Trump was bouncing between the advice of experienced advisers like Barr and Cipollone and the growing coterie of outside instigators like Fitton who were constantly gaining influence.
Publicly, Barr praised Trump. In private, his head hurt. In September, Barr did his best to avoid the president. There was little direct contact between the two men and Barr had stopped visiting Trump at the White House.
He was fed up with Trump making public statements and others doing so to put pressure on U.S. attorney John Durham to bring more lawsuits or publish a report on Russia’s investigation before the election.
In mid-October, as Rudy Giuliani tried to unveil the alleged contents of Hunter Biden’s hard drive, Trump’s allies began pressuring Barr to appoint a special lawyer to investigate his opponent’s son. Unbeknownst to Trump, the Justice Department was already investigating Hunter Biden. But Barr, in accordance with the department’s policy, had kept the investigation a secret.
Barr maneuvered so that he dealt mainly with Meadows and Cipollone. Those around the two men could see that Barr was upset and frustrated by the president’s constant needles.
Avoiding Trump was easier while the campaign warmed up. The president spent more time on the runway and less time stuffing in the oval office.
But Barr’s respite ended after election day, as Trump teamed up with a number of conspiracy theorists to expand on absurd theories of electoral interference, arguing that Biden and the Chinese Communist Party, among others. others, had stolen his election.
On Nov. 29, Trump told Fox News that Barr’s Justice Department was “missing in action.” Barr was furious. In fact, the attorney general had abandoned the department’s precedent to expedite federal investigations into allegations of election fraud. The Justice Department didn’t miss the action – there was simply no evidence of major fraud.
Barr did an interview to AP beat reporter Michael Balsamo, who made it clear on the record. I would put things in my head.
As he headed to the White House for meetings on Dec. 1, Barr knew Balsamo’s story could appear live while he was there. He was soon found in the president’s private dining room, along with Meadows, Cipollone, Trump and others. They sat at a long table under a bright chandelier, amid Trump’s paraphernalia, framed by floor-to-ceiling windows.
Trump was sitting in his usual seat at the head of the table, in front of a huge flat-screen TV with low sound. On the screen, the One America News network, with a conspiracy, played a hearing in the Michigan Senate on election fraud.
Trump had seen Balsamo’s story and was smoking. “Why would you say such a thing? You must hate Trump. There is no other reason. You must hate Trump,” the president accused himself of speaking in the third person.
“These things don’t unfold,” Barr told the president, alongside his chief of staff Will Levi. “The things these people fill your ear with are not true.” Barr explained that if Trump wanted to challenge the election results, lawyers for the president’s internal campaign would have to do so.
The Justice Department, he continued, had examined the major allegations of fraud that Trump’s lawyers had filed. “It sucks,” Barr told the president. Cipollone backed up Barr saying the DOJ was investigating those claims.
Trump pointed to television and asked if Barr had been watching the audience. Barr said no. “Maybe you should,” the president said. Barr reiterated that the Justice Department did not ignore the allegations, but that Trump’s outside lawyers were doing a terrible job.
“I’m a fairly knowledgeable legal observer and I can’t figure out what the theory is here,” he added. “It’s just scattered. It’s all over the hill and it’s gone.”
“Maybe,” Trump said. “May be.”
A week later, the New York Times reported that Barr was considering resigning. Barr’s relationship with the president became unsustainable and the president listened to Sidney Powell and Giuliani instead of his lawyer and White House attorney general.
Barr decided to leave before their private skirmishes spread to the public eye. Some speculated that he had abandoned the president’s increasingly questionable pardons. But that had nothing to do with it. Barr had made it clear to Cipollone that he did not want to be consulted about these post-election pardons. He did not need to hear them until he received the official notices. The only pardon he tried to stop preventively was by Edward Snowden.
On December 14, Trump and Barr met individually in the Oval Office. Others were with Trump when the attorney general arrived. Barr asked that the room be cleaned so he could speak in private. He set out the reasons for his early departure, and explained that while they had had a good relationship, they now disagreed on key issues.
They didn’t need a public outburst. It was time to leave while the outing could still be friendly. Barr later told associates that the meeting was calm and rational and that he had written his resignation letter (which he effusively praised the president for his political achievements) the day before.
Trump appreciated Barr’s loyalty and praise. But praise and loyalty were not enough.
On election fraud, Barr had told Trump what he didn’t want to hear and the president had stopped listening to him. It was time for Barr to leave.
🎧 Listen to Jonathan Swan in Axios ’new research podcast series, called“ How It Happened: Trump’s Last Positioning ”.
Read the rest of the “Off the rails” episodes here.
About this series: Our reports are based on multiple interviews with current and former White House officials, campaign, government, and Congress officials, as well as direct witnesses and people close to the president. Sources have been granted anonymity for sharing sensitive comments or details that they would not be formally authorized to disclose. President Trump and other officials to whom other people have attributed quotes and actions had the opportunity to confirm, deny, or respond to the news items prior to publication.
White House reporter Jonathan Swan reported that “Off the rails” was attended by Zach Basu’s reporting and investigation. It was edited by Margaret Talev and Mike Allen. Illustrations by Sarah Grillo, Aïda Amer and Eniola Odetunde.