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18 Jan, 7 tweets, 3 min read
OFF THE RAILS, episode 4: Trump torches what is arguably the most consequential relationship in his Cabinet. axios.com/trump-barr-rel…
By the late summer of 2020, Trump and Barr were regularly skirmishing over how to handle the protests sparked by the death of George Floyd.

The president wanted to invoke the Insurrection Act and send the military into U.S. cities. Barr disagreed. axios.com/trump-barr-rel…
In one especially volatile mid-August meeting, Trump grew more and more frustrated about Barr's resistance to deploying troops. "No one supports me," Trump yelled. "No one gives me any fucking support."

He stormed out of the Oval Office. axios.com/trump-barr-rel…
On Dec. 1, the AP published an interview with Barr in which he said DOJ had seen no evidence of widespread fraud. He was hauled into the Oval Office.

"Why would you say such a thing? You must hate Trump,” the president charged, speaking in third person. axios.com/trump-barr-rel…
"These things aren't panning out," Barr told Trump. “The stuff that these people are filling your ear with just isn’t true.”

"It's just bullshit," Barr told the president. axios.com/trump-barr-rel…
Barr decided to quit before their private skirmishes spilled further into public view.

The departure had nothing to do with Trump's increasingly questionable pardons — but before he left, Barr made one request: Don't pardon Edward Snowden. axios.com/trump-barr-rel…
Read the first three episodes of "Off the rails," our special series on President Trump's final weeks in office, here. axios.com/off-the-rails-…

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More from @axios

Axios Profile picture
17 Jan
OFF THE RAILS, episode 3: The outside lawyers Trump brought in to try to reverse Biden’s win plotted to seize voting machines, “catch the traitors” and tie Obama-era officials to convoluted theories about Communists, spies and computer software.
axios.com/trump-off-the-…
It was clear Trump recognized how unhinged his outside legal advisers were.

But he was becoming increasingly desperate about losing to Biden, and Sidney Powell and her crew were willing to keep feeding the grand lie that the election could be overturned. axios.com/trump-off-the-…
This new gang of advisers shared some common traits.

They were sycophants who craved an audience with the president, they were hardcore conspiracy theorists. And all of them had, at one point in their lives, done impressive, professional mainstream work. axios.com/trump-off-the-…
Read 6 tweets
Axios Profile picture
17 Jan
OFF THE RAILS: As election results continued to skew in favor of Joe Biden, Trump stopped buying what his professional staff was telling him and turned to radical voices who told him what he wanted to hear. axios.com/trump-lawyers-…
Top aides believed that Trump had one long shot at victory. It would require them to win enough outstanding votes in Arizona and Georgia to squeak home in those two states, and to win a legal challenge to election practices in Wisconsin. axios.com/trump-lawyers-…
Trump listened calmly and told them their plan was worth a shot. But it would never get off the ground.

Plan B, driven by Rudy Giuliani and a parallel track of conspiracy theorists, was already coming together, unfolding before official advisers' eyes. axios.com/trump-lawyers-…
Read 6 tweets
Axios Profile picture
16 Jan
🇺🇸DEEP DIVE: The new Washington

Axios subject-matter experts brief you on the incoming administration's plans and team. 👇
axios.com/axios-am-new-w…
Top corporate leaders tell Axios that President-elect Biden's Cabinet and West Wing picks appear to be animated more by competence than by ideology, making business optimistic about working with the new administration. axios.com/what-business-…
President-elect Biden’s foreign policy team could just about have been assembled by returning to President Obama’s second term and playing a round of musical chairs.

axios.com/biden-administ…
Read 9 tweets
Axios Profile picture
16 Jan
OFF THE RAILS: Trump’s refusal to believe the election results was premeditated. He had heard about the “red mirage” — the likelihood that early vote counts would tip more Republican than the final tallies — and he decided to exploit it.
axios.com/trump-election…
For weeks, Trump had been laying the groundwork to declare victory on election night — even if he lost. But real-time results, punctuated by Fox’s call to become the first outlet to call Arizona for Joe Biden, upended his plans and began his unraveling. axios.com/trump-election…
Over the next two months, Trump took the nation down with him as he descended into denial, despair and a reckless revenge streak that fueled a deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol by his backers seeking to overturn the election. axios.com/trump-election…
Read 5 tweets
Axios Profile picture
15 Jan
WATCH: Axios' @caitlinnowens hosts a conversation on the future of health care affordability with a new Biden administration, featuring former Rep. @GregWalden (R-Ore.) and former CMS administrator and director at @DukeMargolis Mark McClellan.
twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…
@caitlinnowens @gregwalden @DukeMargolis Director at @DukeMargolis and former CMS administrator Mark McClellan on the Biden administration’s priorities: The first round of legislation has to focus on more effective vaccination, more effective testing, reopening the economy, giving people the economic support they need.
@caitlinnowens @gregwalden @DukeMargolis Director at @DukeMargolis Mark McClellan: “In the pandemic, we’ve seen a lot of health care complications because people did not get help. We don’t have a strong public health system in this country. We still don’t.”
Read 5 tweets
Axios Profile picture
15 Jan
☄️ Republicans will emerge from the Trump era gutted:

• They lost their congressional power
• McConnell and McCarthy are hamstrung by corporate blacklisting of election-denying members
• The GOP brand is radioactive for a huge chunk of America axios.com/post-trump-rep…
• The corporate bans on giving to the 147 members who voted against election certification are growing and virtually certain to hold
• The RNC is a shell of its former self and run by a Trump loyalist
axios.com/post-trump-rep…
• Democrats crushed them in fundraising when they were out of power. Imagine their edge with it.
• Sheldon Adelson, the party's biggest donor, died Monday
• The NRA is weaker than it has ever been, after massive leadership scandals. axios.com/post-trump-rep…
Read 4 tweets

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