It has also emerged that Mr. Barr knew that President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son Hunter Biden was the subject of a money laundering investigation that appears to have subsided and a tax investigation, but he respected department norms and did not make that information public before the election despite open demands from Mr. Trump to damage Mr. Biden. Mr. Barr’s resistance to Mr. Trump’s demands that he use the department to subvert the election strained their previously close relationship, leading Mr. Trump to bully Mr. Barr on Twitter over the weekend and culminating with Mr. Barr’s submission of a resignation letter on Monday. But Mr. McCabe’s lawyers urged Mr. Rosen to shelve the case, arguing that their client had not intentionally lied and noting that in any case, false statements made during internal inquiries at federal law enforcement agencies are typically punished administratively, not by criminal prosecution. 