Trump is ‘toast’ in classified documents case: Ex-AG Bill Barr
Bill Barr #BillBarr
Trump is ‘toast’ in classified documents case: Ex-AG Bill Barr
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Donald Trump’s onetime Attorney General William Barr said Sunday the former president is “toast” after being indicted by the federal government for mishandling classified documents.
“The government acted responsibly. It was Donald J. Trump who acted irresponsibly,” Barr said on “Fox News Sunday” of the 37-count indictment against Trump, 76, unsealed Friday.
“They’re solid counts,” Barr said. “Even if half of this is true he’s toast.”
Barr noted he believed that Trump was treated unfairly by the FBI in the “Russiagate” collusion probe and with the indictment brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg in the Stormy Daniels hush money case.
But he said the charges that Trump kept hundreds of classified government documents related to sensitive national security matters at his Mar-a-Lago estate after leaving the White House are a serious matter.
“I was shocked by the degree of the sensitivity of these documents and how many there were, quite frankly,” Barr told host Shannon Bream.
Claims by Trump and allies that he’s the victim of a witch-hunt are “ridiculous,” Barr said.
“[Trump] is not a victim here. He was totally wrong,” Barr said.
The former AG said federal authorities were “very deferential” to Trump but he “jerked them around.”
Trump was peddling “big lies” — one being that he has complete authority to declassify documents, Barr added.
While an argument can be made to declassify Trump’s personal correspondence, for instance, that is not the case for national security or other government documents under the Espionage Act, he said. He said these are “official documents” not Trump’s personal materials that would be his to take.
Before Barr’s appearance, Trump lawyer Alina Habba claimed special prosecutor Jack Smith was making a mountain out of a molehill.
She said many of the documents were newspapers, pictures and personal mementos and maintained that Trump could declassify documents under the Presidential Records Act.
For his part, Trump said he will continue his 2024 run for the White House even if he is convicted in the classified documents case.
The beleaguered ex-president is also under federal investigation for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021 riots and is being investigated for alleged election fraud in Georgia. He was also recently found civilly liable for sexual assault in E. Jean Carroll’s federal lawsuit against him.
“I’ll never leave,” Trump told Politico on Saturday, “Look, if I would have left, I would have left prior to the original race in 2016. That was a rough one. In theory that was not doable.”