Former Attorney General William Barr burned bridges in an interview that will anger supporters of the left and the right.
Barr served his second stint as U.S. Attorney General under former President Donald Trump, resigning over disputes about the 2020 election. Barr said he supported most of the 45th president’s policies but called Trump his own worst enemy.
He told journalist Bari Weiss in her podcast “Honestly” that he would support whatever Republican candidate will keep his former boss from regaining the Oval Office. That incendiary comment will be sure to fire up Trump supporters.
“I don’t know Ron DeSantis that well, but I’ve been impressed with his record down in Florida,” Barr remarked. He added that, were he a betting man, he would place his chips on the Florida governor in 2024. He briefly mentioned other likely contenders for the country’s chief executive spot.
“I like a lot of them,” Barr said. “And my view is, I’m going to support whoever has the best chance of pushing Trump aside.”
Democrats and progressives will experience a warm, fuzzy moment hearing Trump’s former attorney general oppose his return to the White House. Their joy will be short lived, though, if they listen to the rest of the podcast.
Barr explained to Weiss he informed lawmakers that Trump had been spied on by the FBI and it led to federal prosecutor John Durham being appointed as special counsel. Durham was tasked by Barr to investigate the origins of the Russia Collusion-delusion in October 2020. Appointing Durham as special counsel shielded his investigation from being dismantled by the Biden administration.
The former attorney general called the Russiagate hoax a “big lie” and declared it hamstrung Trump’s administration. He found irony that journalists accepted Pulitzer Prizes for reporting a phony story fed to them by Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
“I’ve been surprised that the mainstream media and the people who fanned this to the point of hysteria haven’t come back to say, ‘Yeah, there was a big lie in 2016 that has hurt the country and distorted our politics and foreign policy throughout the Trump administration, It was unjust. It was wrong. And we made a mistake,’” Barr said.
“Very few, if any, have come out to say that.”
Maybe the most awkward moment of his tenure under Trump came in a cabinet meeting discussing how to handle rioting following George Floyd’s death at the hand of police.
“The president was bellowing at a number of his Cabinet secretaries and especially the military guys, the DoD secretary and chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and calling all of us f***ing losers at the top of his lungs,” Barr said.
The former president should not have been impeached for the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, Barr opined.
“The Left has lost their mind over Trump — Trump derangement syndrome is a real thing — but Trump is his own worst enemy and has provoked a lot of the venom,” Barr explained.
If Trump wins the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and runs against a progressive Democrat, Barr declared he will vote for Trump.
Barr described progressivism as the greatest threat currently facing America.
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