Bill Barr on Trump indictment: If ‘half of it is true, then he’s toast’
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Former Attorney General Bill Barr called former President Donald Trump’s 37-count federal indictment “very very damning” Sunday morning, and he rejected Trump’s narrative that he is the victim of a “witch hunt.”
In an appearance on Fox News Sunday, Barr disputed Donald Trump’s arguments defending his possession of classified material, saying Trump had no right to retain the materials.
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“I was shocked by the degree of sensitivity of these documents and how many there were, frankly,” Barr said. “If even half of it is true, he’s toast.”
Trump was indicted on 37 counts by a grand jury on charges brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith last week. Trump is charged with 31 counts of violating a part of the Espionage Act that bars willful possession of national defense information by someone not authorized to have it.
The former Attorney General added that he felt that the 31 counts that fell under a section of the Espionage Act were “solid counts.”
“The idea of presenting Trump as a victim here, a victim of a witch hunt, is ridiculous,” Barr said. “ Yes, he’s been a victim in the past. Yes, his adversaries have obsessively pursued him with phony claims, and I’ve been at his side defending against them when he is a victim. But this is much different. He’s not a victim here. He was totally wrong.”
Barr also called arguments being made by Republicans comparing Trump’s handling of classified documents with previous presidents “big lies,” pointing out that others turned over classified documents to the National Archives, whereas Trump attempted to keep them and now faces obstruction of justice charges.
“All these other presidents took all these documents. Those were situations where they arranged with the archives to set up special space under the management, control, and security provided by the archivists to temporarily put documents until the libraries were ready. These were not people just putting them in their basement, OK.”
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Barr’s comments Sunday contrast with his prior criticism of Trump’s indictment in New York on charges related to hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels. He called that indictment “the epitome of the abuse of prosecutorial power.”
If convicted, Trump could face jail time for the alleged crimes related to the mishandling of classified materials. President Joe Biden is currently under a special counsel investigation regarding his alleged mishandling of classified documents.
Tags: William Barr, trump, indictment, Republicans, Department of Justice, Justice Department
Original Author: Samantha-Jo Roth
Original Location: Bill Barr on Trump indictment: If ‘half of it is true, then he’s toast’