Bill Barr says there is NO reason to appoint special counsels on Hunter Biden or election fraud and rules out 'seizing voting machines,' publicly slapping down Donald Trump's demands in wake of losing election

Attorney General Bill Barr says he won't provide special counsel protection for a Hunter Biden investigation or to designate a special counsel to probe alleged election fraud – in another blow to President Trump's claims of a 'rigged' election.

Barr spoke to reporters Monday days before he is to leave office following his resignation and ouster. 

On his way out the door, the attorney general pegged by Democrats as a Trump henchman managed to part ways with his soon-to-be former boss on election fraud, Hunter Biden, a conspiracy theory about voting machines – and the touchiest issue for Trump: Russia. 

Barr said it 'certainly' appears that Russia was behind a massive hack of the U.S. government – directly contradicting the president after he sought to raise doubts about the claim.

Barr was asked about voter fraud after weekend reports of an explosive meeting between Trump and election lawyer Sidney Powell. 

The former Trump lawyer has filed 'Kraken' lawsuits and wants the government to seize voting machines to inspect them amid her own claims of a conspiracy involving Venezuela, Cuba, China, and machines that allegedly 'flipped' votes from Trump to Biden.

US Attorney General William Barr participates in a news conference to provide an update on the investigation of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 on the 32nd anniversary of the attack, at the US Department of Justice in Washington, D.C, U.S., December 21, 2020. Michael Reynolds/Pool via REUTERS.

Here, Barr gave no quarter to the idea despite the president retweeting a slew of claims linked to Powell and meeting with her over the weekend about her ideas to overturn the vote. 

'If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and it was appropriate I would name one but I haven’t and I’m not going to,' Barr said at the Justice Department.

With Barr resisting the special counsel idea, Trump has reportedly looked into designating a special counsel himself – desperate to keep his claims of fraud alive even after the Electoral College met.

Barr's comment sets up a potential clash between Trump and Barr's successor, Jeffrey Rosen, who will become acting attorney general during a period when the president is intently focused on his own claims of fraud in the election. 

Powell was spotted at the White House Sunday night, two days after Trump floated the idea of naming his former campaign lawyer as a special counsel to probe alleged voter fraud.

She has been pitching the idea, also favored by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, for the president to issue an executive order to seize voting machines. 

The president is not likely to be persuaded by Trump's arguments about Hunter Biden, the son of President-elect Joe Biden. Trump demanded probes of Hunter throughout the campaign, asked the president of Ukraine to look into him in his infamous July 25, 2019 call, and accepted Barr's resignation after it was revealed Barr took steps to keep the probe from being made public before the election in keeping with DOJ policy on not interfering in elections.

Hunter Biden revealed he has received a subpoena in a tax investigation, and he has reportedly been under investigation since 2018.

But Barr didn't get behind a special counsel there either, even amid the potential for conflict under a Biden administration.

'If I thought a special counsel at this stage was the right tool and appropriate I would name one but I haven’t and I’m not going to,' Barr said

Conspiracy theorist attorney Sidney Powell was spotted at the White House on Sunday night. Bill Barr says he has not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel to probe her claims of election fraud

'I think to the extent that there's an investigation I think that it's being handled responsibly and professionally currently within the department,' Barr said when asked about a potential special counsel to oversee the Hunter Biden investigation

Barr said it 'certainly' appears that Russia was behind a massive hack of the U.S. government – after Trump suggested online it could have been China

'I have not seen a reason to appoint a special counsel and I have no plan to do so before I leave,' Barr said. 

'I think to the extent that there's an investigation I think that it's being handled responsibly and professionally currently within the department.' 

Asked whether he was concerned that the incoming Biden administration would seek to scuttle either a Hunter Biden probe or the ongoing John Durham probe of alleged FBI misconduct, Barr noted that before the election he designated Durham as a special counsel to provide 'assurance' he could finish his work.

'I’m hoping that the next administration handles that matter responsibly,' Barr said, when asked about the Hunter probe.  

Barr spoke to provide an update on the investigation of the bombing of Pan Am flight 103, which he helped oversee during his first tenure as attorney general during the George H.W. Bush administration.

Barr spoke against Powell's idea of using federal power to seize voting machines – although he didn't rule it out entirely. 'I see no basis now for seizing machines by the federal government – you know wholesale seizure of machines by the federal government,' Barr said.

The president has personally tweeted unfounded claims about Dominion voting machines – even as conservative networks have begun airing walk-back statements about Dominion and Smartmatic software amid the potential for lawsuits. 

The New York Times reported over the weekend that Trump met with Powell, along with former national security advisor Mike Flynn, who Trump pardoned in November and who has called for martial law where the military would oversee a revote in six states Trump lost. 

Barr said there was fraud in most elections but referenced his earlier claim, saying he hasn't seen 'systemic or broad-based fraud that would affect the outcome of the election.'

'I stand by that statement,' Barr said – contradicting Trump, who claims he won, despite Biden winning the electoral college 306 to 232 and besting Trump by 7 million votes in the popular vote.

Barr also fielded a question about his prior remarks to the Federalist Society blaming the left for shredding norms and undermining the rule of law, in light of Trump's efforts to undo the election results.

Barr avoided a direct answer, instead speaking about his own decision to come back into government. 'I knew I was signing up for a difficult assignment,' he said. 'I don't regret that at all and I don't regret coming in because I think it's always an honor to serve the nation and the American people,' he said. 

One Trump loyalist immediately took Barr's remarks as an attack on the president. 'Maybe you should sit down now, Bill. You certainly did enough sitting down on the job,' wrote back Trump lawyer Jenna Ellis, who along with Giuliani has been alleging election fraud.