Former Attorney General Bill Barr was asked Thursday to weigh in on the question of whether the investigations into his one-time boss, former President Donald Trump, constituted election interference.
“Now, you can argue about whether he should have been charged and so forth,” said Barr, “but the idea that this is interfering with the election is simply wrong.”
Barr, who has traded barbs with Trump on several occasions, but has defended him against the charges he faces in two of the four criminal cases against him, made the remarks during a Fox News interview with John Roberts when asked about “the legal trials and tribulations” of his former boss.
“I wanted to ask you about the legal trials and tribulations of your former boss now that Judge Tanya Chutkan has set March 4, the day before Super Tuesday, as the day for the president’s trial on the election to begin here in Washington, D.C.,” Roberts said. “I guess a lot of the momentum in the primary season will have already been established. But Super Tuesday is very important. And Trump supporters say this is all political. This is meant to disrupt the primary.”
Roberts then played a clip from Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie about whether the investigations constitute election interference.
“What interferes with the primary process is Donald Trump’s conduct, and his insistence on continuing to run for President of the United States, despite the fact that he’s been indicted in four different jurisdictions, and is out on bail in four different jurisdictions in this country, whether you believe the charges are just or not, they are here,” Christie, a vocal critic of Trump, said in the clip.
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Barr responded by saying he thinks “the governor is right.”
“The basic principle in the criminal justice system is if a prominent person commits a crime, and is seeking office, that doesn’t give him immunity,” said Barr. “If there’s enough time to have it resolved before the election, it should be resolved. The idea that ‘oh, okay, well, I’m sorry, we’ll let you run in the election and then after we’ll address it,’ that’s not a principle of the criminal [justice system].
Calling the idea of blanket immunity for candidates “silly,” Barr added, “Now, you can argue about whether he should have been charged and so forth, but the idea that this is interfering with the election is simply wrong.”
Former Trump U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr dismisses the idea that the investigations into Trump constitute election interference: “I mean, the basic principle in the criminal justice system is if a prominent person commits a crime, and is seeking office, that doesn't give him… pic.twitter.com/h8FuJTv0Qz
— Jason Rantz on KTTH Radio (@jasonrantz) September 1, 2023