Donald Trump was clear about what he was looking for in an attorney general when he tapped William Barr for the role: a loyalist, a bodyguard, a “Roy Cohn.” Someone who, unlike Jeff Sessions, would protect him from the Russia investigation, at the time the biggest threat to his presidency. Barr quickly showed he was up to the task. In March, he released a wildly misleading summary of Robert Mueller’s Russia report, writing that the special counsel had found no collusion between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin and clearing the president of obstruction of justice. Then, ahead of the full report’s release, Barr held a press conference in which he acted as Trump’s defense attorney, spinning Mueller’s 400-plus page tome in the president’s favor and chalking up Trump’s efforts to undercut the special counsel to his “sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency.” “The president was frustrated,” Barr said at the time.

While none of that convinced Trump’s critics of his innocence, it effectively stopped any attempt to hold the president accountable. Given Barr’s success stamping out one election interference scandal, it only makes sense then that Trump would attempt to enlist him again as he faces another. But according to the Washington Post report, even Trump’s loyal attorney general seems to want no part of the Ukraine scandal.

Per the Post, Trump in September requested that Barr make a public statement—similar, perhaps, to the ones he made about the Mueller report—proclaiming that he did not break any laws in his July 25 phone call with Volodymyr Zelensky. According to sources familiar with the matter, however, Barr declined to do so—a sign, perhaps, that he’s aware the president’s conversation with his Ukrainian counterpart was not as “perfect” as he’s claimed. Trump’s request came around September 25, when the White House issued a reconstructed transcript of the call in an effort to debunk a whistleblower complaint that Trump attempted to extort Zelensky into investigating Joe Biden. Unfortunately for the president, the rough transcript showed him doing just that. The Justice Department claimed at the time that “no further action was warranted” with respect to any potential campaign finance violations raised by the call, but Trump apparently wanted Barr to go farther.

Though the administration and Barr’s associates maintain that the attorney general and the president remain on good terms, the Post reported that Trump has “mentioned Barr’s demurral to associates in recent weeks, saying he wished Barr would have held the news conference.” Such preoccupations can turn quickly to antipathy, as previous Trump officials who have fallen out of favor with the president can surely attest. But Trump spokesman Hogan Gidley dismissed any tensions, saying he “has nothing but respect for AG Barr and greatly appreciates the work he’s done on behalf of the country.” Trump, meanwhile, has denied the story with the kind of over-the-top fervor that all but confirms it is true. “Bill Barr did not decline my request to talk about Ukraine,” Trump tweeted Thursday. “The story was a Fake Washington Post con job with an “anonymous” source that doesn’t exist.” “The degenerate Washington Post MADE UP the story about me asking Bill Barr to hold a news conference,” Trump added later. “Never happened, and there were no sources!”

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