In an interview this week, former AG William Barr told PBS that the Justice Dept. has a solid criminal case against former Pres. Donald Trump.
Barr made the statements while in an interview with Margaret Hoover on “Firing Line.”
Barr stated at the outset of the interview that he did not believe that Trump is “the ideal candidate for leading either the Republican Party or the nation forward,” and that he was unhappy when Trump announced his intention to run for President again.
Barr stated that one of the reasons Trump may run again is to shield himself from unprecedented federal, state, as well as congressional investigations. “But I think he has a massive ego, and he does not want to go into the history books as a failure,” he continued. “He also wishes to exact vengeance on those who, he believes, failed to pay him his due.”
Regarding Trump’s candidates’ dismal showings in crucial races during the midterm elections, Barr stated that Trump “selected weak candidates merely because they were eager to display their fealty to him by claiming that the election had been stolen. And it completely backfired.”
Concerning the FBI’s raid on Mar-a-Lago earlier this year as part of their criminal probe into Trump’s management of U.S. government information, Barr stated, “If the Department of Justice can establish that these were truly highly sensitive papers, which I believe they were, and also prove that the president willfully was involved in misleading the department, deceiving the country, and playing games after he had gotten the subpoena for the documents, those are significant allegations.”
When asked if Trump’s conduct constituted a “severe enough offense” to warrant prosecution, Barr replied, “That’s serious.”
“Well, I’ve already stated that I believe they have a reasonable foundation for indicting the president. I’m not sure; I’m guessing,” he replied. “But, given what’s happened, I believe they have the evidence to mark the box. They have the evidence.”
The justification for prosecuting Trump with crimes, according to Barr, is that “if you let someone like this — if the evidence is as real as it could be, and you allow someone to get by with it, how can you safeguard this top secret information?”
