Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) is weighing in after President Donald Trump shared that Attorney General William Barr is stepping down.
After praising Barr as a “man of great capacity,” the Republican senator said during an interview on CNBC Monday evening, “It was clear that being part of the administration was a challenging responsibility for him, to say the least.”
Romney added that he is “not surprised” that Barr “felt that he could no longer associate himself with the processes going on now.”
When Romney noted that Trump “has every right” to have votes recounted and to challenge the election results, CNBC’s Shepard Smith chimed in, “He’s claiming fraud, senator, and there’s no evidence of it. Bill Barr didn’t go along with it and now he’s out.”
Romney then said, “Bill Barr drew the line.”
When asked “how much damage” Trump is “doing to democracy trying to overturn the will of the people,” Romney answered, “The biggest concern that I have is that people here genuinely believe that somehow this election was stolen, and there’s not evidence of that.”
Watch Romney’s comments below (starting at 2:50):
Romney continued, “The president was saying it was stolen even before election day happened. He said if he loses it would be fraud. Well, no one knows that.”
“I thought I was going to win too when I ran for president in 2012. I didn’t. I didn’t go out and say fraud. We have a process. We count the votes. That’s the way it is. […] What’s going on now I’m afraid is terribly dispiriting to people all over the globe.”
Trump tweeted on Monday night that he had a “very nice meeting” with Barr and praised their relationship as “a very good one.” He added that Barr “has done an outstanding job,” as IJR reported.
“As per letter, Bill will be leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family,” Trump tweeted.
Barr recently revealed that the Department of Justice has not found evidence of widespread voter fraud in the election that would change the outcome of the election.
Following Barr’s remarks, Trump was asked a few days later by a reporter at the White House if he still has confidence in Barr, to which the president responded, “Ask me that in a number of weeks from now.”
