Romney: ‘Not surprised’ Barr ‘could no longer associate himself’ with Trump election fraud claims

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) reacted to Attorney General William Barr’s departure from the Trump administration on CNBC Monday, stating that he was “not surprised.”

“It was clear that being part of the administration was a challenging responsibility for him, to say the least,” he said. “I’m not surprised that he could no longer associate himself with the process that’s going on now.”

President Trump tweeted that Barr had offered his resignation Monday night and would leave his post before Christmas.

The departure came amid several long-shot legal battles from the Trump campaign and Republican allies in a quest to overturn the election results. The president has repeatedly alleged without substantial evidence that the election was “rigged” due to widespread voter fraud. 

Most of these legal battles, however, have been rejected by state and federal courts. 

In recent weeks, Barr broke with the president and announced that there is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

Barr also reportedly knew about a federal investigation of President-elect Joe Biden’s son Hunter as early as the spring and kept it from becoming public before the election.

“The biggest concern I have is that people here genuinely believe that somehow this election was stolen, and there’s not evidence of that, and the president was saying it was stolen even before Election Day happened,” Romney told CNBC’s Shepard Smith.

Romney made similar comments Tuesday, telling “CBS This Morning” that “Bill Barr drew a line in the sand. The president stepped over it with his ongoing effort to try to overturn the will of the voters and Bill Barr apparently had enough.”

“Bill Barr drew a line in the sand. The president stepped over it with his ongoing effort to try to overturn the will of the voters and Bill Barr apparently had enough.” — Sen. @MittRomney on Attorney General Bill Barr’s resignation pic.twitter.com/4lcVX0TkMw

— CBS This Morning (@CBSThisMorning) December 15, 2020

Romney has sharply criticized the president and other Republicans’ refusal to acknowledge the results of the election, telling reporters last week that Rep. Mo Brooks’s (R-Ala.) intention to challenge the Electoral College results was “madness.”

“We have a process. Recounts are appropriate. Going to the court is appropriate. Pursuing every legal avenue is appropriate. But trying to get electors not to do what the people voted to do is madness,” he said.