Former Attorney General Bill Barr said over the weekend that former President Donald Trump — should he win the Republican Party presidential primary and later become president again — “needs” to surround himself with people in a second term that are able to tell him “no.”
Barr told Fox News on Saturday that the former president, should he retake the White House, “needs people around him who will push back and help keep him on the straight and narrow.”
“During his first term, the main way that could be done is by pointing out to him how this would hurt his prospects for a second term,” Barr said. “Once he wins a second term, I don’t know — you know — what considerations can be used to push back against bad ideas.”
Barr said that he was concerned that if Trump were re-elected that he would not be interested in moving the country forward and instead focus on retribution.
“I’m worried that his style of governance, his continuing to pander to anger and frustration versus a constructive approach to solving our problems, is going to be chaotic and not accomplish very much,” Barr said. “He’ll be a lame duck president.”
Barr added that should Trump retake the White House, the next U.S. attorney general needs to be able to push back against the president’s wishes when they fall outside the Constitution.
“He has to be ready to say ‘no’ and to resign,” Barr said. “Trump has made it plain that he’s going to respond to what he considers the left wings’ ‘no holds barred’ approach by fighting fire with fire. I think for people going into that administration. I think they have to be ready to oppose the abuse of government power.”