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Trump has reacted strongly to his former attorney general Bill Barr’s criticism in an interview earlier on Friday, characterizing him as ‘weak, ineffective, and completely terrified of being impeached,’ after Barr criticized him in the interview.
During Barr’s interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, Trump was furious that the former attorney general said Trump was ‘responsible’ for the January 6 insurrection, and surrounded himself with a ‘clown show’ of lawyers.
He also said he was prepared to resign if necessary. President Trump says he forced Barr to resign as a result of his actions.
‘Former Attorney General Bill Barr wouldn’t know voter fraud if it was staring him in the face – and it was,’ President Trump said in a statement on Friday.
‘The fact is, he was weak, ineffective, and totally scared of being impeached, which the Democrats were constantly threatening to do. They ”broke” him.’
Trump said that Barr ‘should have acted much faster on the [special counsel Robert] Mueller report’ and accused Barr of allowing ‘the fake Russia, Russia, Russia Hoax to linger.’
The former president also expressed his anger at Barr for not doing more to back his claims about election fraud.
‘It was the Election Fraud and Irregularities that he refused to act on because he wanted to save his own hide – and he did.
‘He never got impeached, contempt charges never went forward, and the Democrats were very happy with him – but I wasn’t.’
In his statement, Trump went on to call the January 6 committee, which he referred to as ‘The Unselect Committee of Political Hacks’ – accusing them of ‘trying to fabricate a narrative that doesn’t exist.’
Earlier on Friday, Barr accused the ex-president of wanted to ‘intimidate Congress.’
He also mocked Trump’s ‘clown show’ of lawyers, in a new clip of Holt’s interview that aired Friday morning.
‘I do think he was responsible in the broad sense of that word,’ Barr told Holt about January 6.
‘It appears that part of the plan was to send this group up to the Hill.
‘I think the whole idea was to intimidate Congress and I think that that was wrong.’
Barr also revealed that he ridiculed Trump’s legal team during the same heated meeting where he offered his resignation.
‘I said the reason you are where you are is because you wheeled out a clown show of lawyers,’ Barr said.
‘Yeah, clown car, or something like that – just a bunch of clowns,’ Barr clarified.
Holt asked Barr to specify who he meant – and then mentioned Trump’s lawyer, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
‘His crackerjack legal team,’ Barr replied.
And at the mention of Giuliani he added: ‘Among others.’
In an earlier clip released from the interview, Barr recounted the dramatic moment from the same meeting when Trump slammed his hand on his desk and ordered him to go home without delay, after he disputed Trump’s election fraud claims.
Barr resigned his post shortly before Christmas in 2020, just weeks before the end of Trump’s term – in an event that has since been revealed to be a sign of inner White House turmoil over Trump’s efforts to push his fraud claims even after they were thrown out of a succession of courts.
‘I told him that all this stuff was bulls*** about election fraud,’ Barr said.
‘And, you know, it was wrong to be shoveling it out the way his team was.
‘And he started asking me about different theories. And I had the answers. I was able to tell him, ‘This is wrong because of this,” Barr said.
Barr, who is promoting a new book, also described his dramatic confrontation with Trump.
‘He was obviously getting very angry about this,’ Barr recalled.
‘I said, ‘OK, well, look, I understand you’re upset with me. And I’m perfectly happy to tender my resignation.”
That prompted a furious outburst from Trump.
‘And then, boom! He slapped the desk, and he said, ‘Accepted!’ Accepted!”
‘And then, boom! He slapped it again,’ Barr said, slapping his own hand for emphasis. ‘Accepted! Go home. Don’t go back to your office. Go home. You’re done,’ he says Trump told him.
The dramatic confrontation between the two men is one Trump tried to paper over in a tweet announcing Barr’s departure, when it was revealed he would stay on until December 23.
‘Just had a very nice meeting with Attorney General Bill Barr at the White House,’ Trump tweeted on December 14.
‘Our relationship has been a very good one, he has done an outstanding job!’
Trump in a new statement to NBC said he demanded Barr leave for failing to do his job, calling his former AG ‘Lazy’ and a ‘coward.’
The full interview airs Sunday at 9pm.
Source: The Republic Brief