Former U.S. Attorney General William Barr said during an interview this week that special counsel John Durham’s report on the origins of the FBI’s investigation into former President Donald Trump “vindicated” the former president and that Trump was right from the beginning about what the Left was trying to do to him.
Durham’s report found that the FBI had no evidence to support launching the investigation and found “sobering” differences in how the FBI approached the Trump probe compared to other politically sensitive investigations.
Barr told Fox News anchor Bret Baier on Tuesday evening that Durham’s report was a “success” because it got to the bottom of what happened and exposed issues that have led to changes at the DOJ and FBI, even though more changes are needed.
Barr said Hillary Clinton’s campaign, the media, and the FBI were the primary culprits behind the lies that drove the conspiracy theory for years and led to multiple investigations that cost tens of millions of dollars.
“Let’s not forget what the lie was. The lie was Russiagate,” Barr said. “The lie was, there was collusion. There was nothing to support it.”
Barr said if what the Left did was not a witch-hunt, then it was “a damn good imitation of one.”
“This is one of the greatest injustices done to a presidential candidate and a president. And he was treated unfairly here,” Barr said. “So, he is vindicated as far as Russiagate is concerned.”
Barr said that while he has his differences with the former president, he believes that “he had great policies, that he deserved a lot of credit for what he accomplished, and this was a grave injustice.”
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“And the fact that he was able to accomplish a lot in the face of it, I think was a great achievement,” Barr said. “I have other problems. I’m not supporting him for renomination, but he was right on this. And this is a vindication. He had it right from the beginning.”
Several minutes later, Barr was asked again about the 2024 Republican Party primary for president and his thoughts about the former president.
Barr said that he believes the Durham report is going to help Trump in the short term, but that he believes Trump “will not win the nomination.”
“And I have nothing personal against him, and there’s no — I have no antipathy toward him at all,” Barr said. “But I just don’t think he’s the right leader for the Republican Party going forward. I think people who want to restore America should look for a big victory that brings strength into the Congress and allows us to achieve some fundamental changes. And I don’t think he’s capable of delivering that kind of victory.”
Barr said that he believes Trump has the best chance of losing to Biden of any of the Republicans running or who are likely to run, and that his concern is “even if he won,” Trump “would wipe out Republicans in the Congress because of the vast turnout that would occur just to vote against him.”