Attorney-general William P. Barr is considering stepping down before President Trump’s term ends next month, according to three people familiar with this thinking. One said Barr could announce his departure before the end of the year.

It was not clear whether the attorney general’s deliberations were influenced by Trump’s refusal to concede his election loss or his fury over Barr’s acknowledgment last week that the justice department uncovered no widespread voting fraud. In the ensuing days, the President refused to say whether he still had confidence in Barr.

One of the people insisted that Barr had been weighing his departure since last week and that Trump had not affected the attorney-general’s thinking. Another said Barr had concluded that he had completed the work that he set out to accomplish at the department.

But the President’s public complaints about the election, including a baseless allegation earlier last week that federal law enforcement had rigged the election against him, are certain to cast a cloud over any early departure by Barr. He could avoid a confrontation with the President.

New York Times News Service