The president has announced that William Barr will leave office 'before Christmas.' The outgoing attorney general has said the Department of Justice will continue to investigate allegations of voter fraud

US President Donald Trump said Monday that Attorney General William Barr would step down on December 23.

Trump shared a letter on Twitter, in which Barr announced his resignation and said he updated the president on the review of voter fraud allegations in the 2020 presidential election.  In it, Barr pledged the allegations "would continue to be pursued."

Trump said Barr had done "an outstanding job," and would be "leaving just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family..."

In the tweet, Trump said Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen will take over the job.

...Deputy Attorney General Jeff Rosen, an outstanding person, will become Acting Attorney General. Highly respected Richard Donoghue will be taking over the duties of Deputy Attorney General. Thank you to all! pic.twitter.com/V5sqOJT9PM

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 14, 2020

Barr praised Trump, saying he was "greatly honored that you called on me to serve your Administration."

Trump's defeat to President-elect Joe Biden was confirmed by the Electoral College on Monday.

Trump's relationship with Barr

Trump has previously expressed his frustration about Barr, who told the Associated Press earlier this month that the Justice Department found no widespread election fraud that would change the outcome of November's election.

Democrats accused Barr of acting like the president's personal attorney. "William Barr was willing to do the President’s bidding on
every front but one. Barr refused to play along with President Trump’s nonsensical claims to have won the election," Democratic House of Representatives Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler said in a statement.

Barr served his second stint as attorney general beginning February 2019. He had previously served under George H.W. Bush.

He framed special counsel Robert Mueller's report on the investigation into suspected Russian interference with the 2016 US presidential election as favorable to Trump, even though Mueller said Trump could not be exonerated.

Barr followed Trump's calls to "investigate the investigators" in conducting a criminal investigation into the origins of the FBI's probe into that same election.

Barr did not always side with the president, however. Earlier in 2020, he told American broadcaster ABC News that the president's tweets about Justice Department cases "make it impossible for me to do my job."