Trump wants a special counsel to investigate purported election fraud and Hunter Biden allegations, report says

• President Donald Trump wants a special counsel to investigate unsubstantiated allegations of widespread voter and election fraud related to the 2020 presidential race, The Wall Street Journal reported.
• Senior White House officials are also said to be interested in the appointment of a special counsel to investigate allegations surrounding President-elect Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
• Trump's focus on a special counsel comes as federal judges across the country, as well as the Supreme Court, reject dozens of Republican legal challenges seeking to overthrow the election results.
• Justice Department rules say the attorney general can appoint a special counsel, but it's unclear if Attorney General Barr will do so given his own pronouncement that the department did not uncover evidence of widespread fraud in the election.

President Donald Trump has expressed interest in the appointment of a special counsel tasked with investigating unsubstantiated allegations of widespread voter and election fraud in the 2020 presidential race, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Since losing the election, Trump, his legal team, GOP lawmakers, and media loyalists have leveled hundreds of baseless and incoherent claims that Democrats conspired with election officials, "big media," and dead communist dictators to win the White House while simultaneously losing key downballot races.

To that end, the Trump campaign and Republican officials have filed nearly 40 legal challenges seeking to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory. They haven't won a single case.

The Supreme Court also recently rejected a brazen and legally dubious lawsuit from Texas asking to throw out the election results in four states Trump lost: Michigan, Georgia, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. Three days earlier, the high court denied Pennsylvania Republicans' request to decertify Biden's victory in the state.

According to The Journal, Trump has asked advisors in recent days to look into potential candidates to serve as special counsel. The report said senior White House officials have also expressed interest in the appointment of a special counsel to investigate allegations surrounding Biden's son, Hunter.

The younger Biden has not been charged with any criminal activity but is the focus of federal tax investigations from the Delaware and Manhattan US attorneys' offices. The probes were initially broader in scope and looked into Biden's foreign ties and possible money laundering, but the money laundering investigation has since fizzled out from a lack of evidence, and the inquiry now primarily focuses on Biden's taxes.

Under Justice Department guidelines, the attorney general has the power to appoint a special counsel, though it's unclear whether Attorney General William Barr will capitulate to Trump's demands given his own announcement that the Justice Department has not uncovered evidence of widespread fraud in the election.

Barr has been in Trump's doghouse for months after failing to deliver on politically motivated investigations targeting the Bidens and former Obama officials before the election to give Trump a boost in the polls.

After Trump lost, Barr again inflamed the president's temper when he told The Associated Press that the Justice Department did not have evidence that there was nationwide voter fraud, a direct and public rebuke of the president's claims to the contrary.

And on Friday, Trump was furious over a separate Journal report the previous evening that said Barr had known about the Hunter Biden tax investigations for months before the election but had worked to keep them under wraps, in accordance with department rules to prohibit prosecutors from taking overt investigative steps that could alter the outcome of an election.

The Journal reported that Trump once again mused about firing Barr during the Friday meeting but was eventually talked out of it. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.