Former Attorney General Bill Barr on Sunday slammed Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s criminal case against ex-President Donald Trump as prosecutorial abuse and a partisan hit job that only strengthens the Democrats’ chances of keeping the White House in 2024.
“I don’t think it [the indictment] has any merit. I think it’s transparently an abuse of prosecutorial power to accomplish a political end,” Barr, who headed the Justice Department under Trump, said on “This Week” program.
“They want him to be the nominee because he is the weakest of the Republican candidates.”
Trump, 76, the first US president ever to be indicted, pleaded not guilty in Manhattan Supreme Court last week to 34 felony counts of falsifying business documents in connection to alleged “hush money” payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election.
After reading the “opaque” indictment, Barr said he was baffled as to what crime was allegedly committed.
“I don’t see anywhere specified here what the fraud was. These were his own business records… He’s the owner of the company,” Barr said.
“I think if [Bragg] has a good case he would specify exactly what his case is. But he’s tried to hide the ball.”
Meanwhile, a lawyer on Trump’s defense team, James Trusty, said motions will be filed early on to have the case dismissed to undo “this miscarriage of justice.”
He also questioned whether a Manhattan jury should hear the case if it ever goes to trial.
“The issue with venue is that Manhattan was like 87% pro-Joe Biden in the last election. It’s a real stronghold of liberalism, of activism, and that infects the whole process,” Trusty said on “This Week.”
Bragg last week defended his office’s case against Trump, saying it was his “solemn responsibility” to uphold accountability in the “business capital of the world.”
“We regularly bring cases involving false business statements,” Bragg told reporters. “The bedrock of the basis for business integrity and a well-functioning business marketplace is true and accurate record-keeping.”
Barr said Sunday the case will drag on well into the 2024 campaign season and likely won’t be resolved until after the primary or even the general election.
That’s precisely why the case is so political, Barr said, because it’s going to “stymie and disrupt” the Republican primary — and strengthen Trump’s bid to win the nomination but hurt the party’s chances to reclaim the White House with a damaged Trump on the ballot.
He said Democrats know the indictment is a “red flag” to Trump’s GOP base who feel he is being “persecuted” and will rally around him.
But Barr added, “As far the general election is concerned, it will greatly weaken Trump. He is already a weak candidate who would lose but I think this sort of assures it.”
While slamming the hush money case against Trump, Barr said he considered other criminal investigations against the ex-president more serious, including the White House documents case and his role in the January 6, 2021 riots at the Capitol.
The former AG said he thought it was likely Trump would be indicted for potentially obstructing justice while withholding classified White House documents after he left office before it was revealed that President Biden also held onto classified documents from when he was vice president, as did former Vice President Mike Pence.
Barr said Trump has “dug himself a hole” in those cases because of his “reckless” and “self destructive behavior.”
Before the indictment was issued last week, Barr said Trump shouldn’t take the stand if the hush money case goes to trial because he “lacks all self control.”