Former Attorney General Bill Barr said Thursday that the Republican Party should not make former President Donald Trump the nominee for the 2024 presidential election.
“I don’t think he should be our nominee, the Republican Party nominee, and I think the Republicans have a big opportunity. It would be a big mistake to put him forward,” Barr said on Newsmax’s “Spicer & Co.”
“If he was the nominee, then I would vote for him over the Democrat,” Barr added.
“Maybe your audience doesn’t want to hear this, but Trump ran weaker than the Republican ticket in Arizona, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — 75,000 Republicans went to the polls and voted straight Republican ticket in Arizona and didn’t vote for him, 60,000 in Wisconsin, 60,000 in Pennsylvania. That’s why he lost the election,” Barr also said.
Trump has not formally declared if he will run in 2024 but has hinted at the possibility.
“The campaign finance laws don’t really allow you to discuss that unless you’re going to literally go through a different process,” Trump said in a March “Full Send Podcast” appearance in response to whether he will run.
“So, I think a lot of people are going to be really happy. You guys might be really happy but I think a lot of people are going to be very happy. But, I’ll wait,” he added at the time. (RELATED: ‘It Was All Bullsh*t’: Bill Barr Details His Thoughts On Trump’s Election Claims)
Barr and Trump reportedly had a tense exchange over Trump’s allegations of election fraud in the 2020 election. Barr also called Trump’s allegations “bullshit.”