Former attorney general Bill Barr has publicly defended Donald Trump amidst the multiple investigations against him, but the 37-count federal indictment against the former president is one that even he says is “very, very damning” and the notion that it is a “witch hunt is ridiculous.”
“If even half of it is true, he is toast,” Barr told Shannon Bream on “Fox News Sunday.”
The indictment, filed by Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith, centers around Trump’s actions after leaving office rather than during his time as president. Trump is accused of retaining classified documents after leaving office that “included information regarding defense and weapons capabilities of both the United States and foreign counties; United States nuclear programs; potential vulnerabilities of the United States and its allies to military attack; and plans for possible retaliation in response to foreign attack,” according to the unsealed indictment.
Trump is also accused of lying to investigators about the location and volume of the documents he kept at his Mar-a-lago compound, adding obstruction of justice charges to the indictment. Trump has vowed to plead not guilty to the charges and called them “election interference at the highest level” and “the greatest witch hunt of all time” in a Fox News interview on Thursday. But Barr vehemently disagreed.
“This idea of presenting Trump as a victim here or a victim of a witch hunt is ridiculous. Yes, he’s been a victim in the past. His adversaries have obsessively pursued him with phony claims. And I’ve been at his side defending against them when he is a victim,” he said.
“But this is much different. He’s not a victim here. He was totally wrong that he had the right to have those documents. Those documents are among the most sensitive secrets that the country has. They have to be in the custody of the archivist. He had no right to maintain them and retain them,” he continued.
Barr acknowledged his tense past with Trump, but noted again that he has defended Trump when it comes to other investigations against him, including the FBI’s investigation into his alleged ties to Russia and investigations conducted by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“I have spoken out for 30 years about the abuse of the criminal justice process to influence politics. But this is simply not true. This particular episode of trying to retrieve those documents, the government acted responsibly, and it was Donald Trump who acted irresponsibly,” he said.
Watch a clip of Barr’s appearance on “Fox News Sunday” in the video above.
