Attorney General Bill Barr has dismissed Donald Trump's attacks as a 'deposed king ranting' and said that he 'isn't intimidated' by the president calling him a 'big disappointment' over the Hunter Biden tax probe, according to a source.
Trump lashed out at Barr on Twitter Saturday morning demanding to know why he didn't reveal the investigation into President-elect Joe Biden's son before the election and retweeting a post calling for the firing of the DOJ's top boss.
His fury came after it emerged on Wednesday that the Justice Department had been investigating Hunter Biden over his business dealings and taxes leading up to the election but did not make the probe public.
But, according to a source, Barr is unequally as unimpressed with Trump and is just riding out his time left until they both leave office.
Attorney General Bill Barr has dismissed Donald Trump's attacks as a 'deposed king ranting' that are 'irrelevant to his loss', after the president demanded to know why he didn't reveal Hunter Biden's tax probe before the election
Barr 'cannot be intimidated by Trump' and has dismissed the president's outbursts over the probe as 'the deposed king ranting,' the source told CNN Saturday after Trump's Twitter rampage.
'Irrelevant to the course of justice and to Trump's election loss.'
The DOJ boss 'is not someone who takes bullying and turns the other cheek', they added.
Despite the growing rift between the two men - who were once staunch allies - Barr plans to stay on in his role until Trump leaves the White House and is likely to only quit if he thinks Trump is about to fire him, according to the insider.
The source added that tensions are currently so high between the two men that it is like 'a Cold War.'
Trump and Barr's relationship was already on the rocks before news of Hunter Biden's tax probe emerged this week.
Barr drew the ire of Trump last week when he said the DOJ had found no evidence of widespread election fraud and the two men had a 'contentious' meeting in the aftermath, CNN reported.
Trump fired off several tweets Saturday morning hitting out at Barr.
'Why didn't Bill Barr reveal the truth to the public, before the Election, about Hunter Biden,' he tweeted.
'Joe was lying on the debate stage that nothing was wrong, or going on - Press confirmed. Big disadvantage for Republicans at the polls!' he continued.
Trump lashed out at Barr on Twitter, even retweeting a suggestion that Barr be fired by the end of the day
'Why didn't Bill Barr reveal the truth to the public, before the Election, about Hunter Biden,' Trump tweeted on Saturday morning. Above, Barr is seen with Trump in September
Trump predicted that: 'IF Biden gets in, nothing will happen to Hunter or Joe. Barr will do nothing, and the new group of partisan killers coming in will quickly kill it all.'
He also retweeted conservative radio host Todd Starnes' call for Barr to be fired immediately. Trump added the comment: 'A big disappointment!'
A source told CNN Trump held a meeting with advisers in the White House Friday where he discussed firing Barr with little over a month to go until he must also leave the White House.
The president was said to be 'furious' over the Hunter Biden probe as well as reports that Barr would quit.
Hunter Biden's foreign business dealings became a point of contention during the election, after the New York Post ran reports about revelations from a discarded laptop.
Biden's campaign attacked the articles as Russian disinformation and smears.
'Not one single solitary thing was out of line,' Joe Biden insisted of his son's dealings in the second presidential debate.
'My son has not made money in terms of this thing about, what are you talking about, China.'
Now, it has been revealed that the tax investigation into Hunter Biden was launched in 2018, the year before the elder Biden announced his candidacy for president.
Hunter Biden confirmed the existence of the investigation on Wednesday, saying he learned about it for the first time the previous day.
'I take this matter very seriously but I am confident that a professional and objective review of these matters will demonstrate that I handled my affairs legally and appropriately, including with the benefit of professional tax advisors,' he said in a statement.
Hunter Biden (left) confirmed the existence of the investigation on Wednesday, saying he learned about it for the first time the previous day
It isn't clear which entities or business dealings might be tied up in the probe, though a person with knowledge of the matter said at least some of focus was on his past work in China.
Federal investigators served a round of subpoenas on Tuesday, including one for Hunter Biden, according to another person familiar with the investigation.
Investigators did not reach out until recently because of Justice Department practice against taking overt investigative actions in the run-up to an election, one of the people said.
Hunter Biden has a history of international affairs and business dealings in a number of countries.
Trump and his allies have accused him of profiting off his political connections, and have also leveled charges of corruption related to his work in Ukraine at the time his father was vice president and leading the Obama administration's dealings with the Eastern European nation.
Late Wednesday, Trump tweeted a quote from New York Post columnist Miranda Devine claiming: '10% of voters would have changed their vote if they knew about Hunter Biden.'
Hunter Biden (left) is seen with Joe and Jill Biden as they celebrate election victory on November 7. Hunter's financial dealings are the subject of a federal investigation
It all raises the prospect of even deeper dysfunction in a capital that is already struggling to address the nation's most pressing crises, including a surging pandemic.
Republicans, particularly those eyeing presidential runs in 2024, are making clear they will press Biden on the issue.
'Joe Biden needs to pledge today that he will cooperate with the federal investigation and answer any questions under oath,' Senator Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said Thursday, 'and that if he is sworn in as president, no federal investigator or attorney working on the Hunter Biden criminal case will be removed.'
Trump's initial public response was surprisingly muted, just a pair of tweets about a Fox News segment on the story Wednesday night.
But privately, he demanded to know why the investigation was not revealed ahead of Election Day, accusing officials of deliberately stalling in order to help Biden´s chances, according to two Republicans familiar with the conversations but not authorized to discuss them publicly.
On Friday, Biden yelled 'I'm proud of my son' before walking away when a reporter asked if Hunter Biden 'commit[ted] a crime'. The same journalist also asked if the father and son had spoken.
It emerged on Thursday that Joe Biden's brother James is also caught up in an FBI investigation.
Agents have asked about James Biden, one of Joe's two younger brothers, during an investigation into a hospital business in Pennsylvania in which he was involved, Politico reported.
The business, Americore, ran rural hospitals and was raided by agents in January after entering bankruptcy. Politico reported that in the course of their investigation, the FBI has asked about James Biden's involvement in the business.
He has been described as its 'principal,' but has disputed that description and his role is the subject of litigation in at least two states. In one court case he was accused of dropping his brother's name to drum up business.
Republican senator Tom Cotton told Fox News Thursday that there should be a special counsel appointed into both Bidens, alleging that Hunter's investigation stretched into securities fraud as well as tax issue.
The original investigation into Hunter Biden is being led by federal prosecutors in Delaware. Earlier this week, it emerged that a parallel investigation was opened in Pittsburgh after Rudy Giuliani handed material over to a federal prosecutor there.
Sources told the New York Times that Scott Brady, Pittsburgh's top federal prosecutor and a staunch Republican, headed up the investigation at the request of Attorney General Bill Barr after Giuliani reached out with information he had gathered on the Biden family.
The investigations into his son have complicated Joe Biden's decision on nominating his own attorney general.
The investigations into Hunter complicated the attorney general pick for Joe Biden, who is now said to be considering New York Governor Andrew Cuomo (above) for the job
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is one of several contenders under consideration by Joe Biden for the role of attorney general, the Associated Press reported on Friday.
The other three contenders at the moment are said to include outgoing Alabama Senator Doug Jones, federal appeals court judge Merrick Garland and former Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates.
But the dynamics could shift, as any Biden choice now will be scrutinized for any perceived loyalty to the president-elect and bias in any probe of his son. Both Garland and especially Jones have longtime ties to Biden.
Cuomo has been asked in recent weeks about his interest in the attorney general spot. Just this week, he said in a public radio interview in New York, 'I have no intention to run for president or vice president, or go to the administration.' But he said the attorney general job 'is really critical, especially now.'
A former state attorney general and Housing and Urban Development secretary in the Clinton administration, Cuomo has been governor of New York since 2011 and has been the public face of the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic.
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