Known for serving a tumultuous two-year sitting as the U.S. attorney general under former President Donald Trump, Bill Barr spoke out as part of a Thursday interview about who he wants to see come forward from the extremely crowded 2024 field of GOP presidential candidates.
The Washington vet who is known to speak his mind made these statements as part of a massive interview with Bari Weiss as part of her podcast titled “Honestly.” Barr, who made the choice to return from retirement in order to work within the Trump administration in the same role that he worked while under President George H.W. Bush almost 30 years previously, stated that he will not stand in support of whichever candidate can make sure his former boss will not be able to get nominated.
“I don’t know Ron DeSantis that well, but I’ve been impressed with his record down in Florida,” expressed Barr, going on to state that if he were to put a bet on just who will get to be the next president, he would put his money securely on DeSantis.
Barr also mentioned quite a few other potential candidates for president, which included Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. Neither Trump nor anyone else on his list of potential candidates has spoken about any formal plans to announce their bid for president.
This interview of Bill Barr by @bariweiss is really remarkable, and I'm surprised it's not gotten more attention. Some highlights: https://t.co/gZ9DqfPyK9
Mr. Barr is saddened that no Democrats/media have apologized for "Russiagate:" pic.twitter.com/kFnzXGSzrZ
— Peter Sagal (@petersagal) August 26, 2022
“I like a lot of them,” explained Barr. “And my view is, I’m going to support whoever has the best chance of pushing Trump aside.”
Barr also unveiled what he labeled as by far the most awkward of the entire time he spent within the Trump administration, which took place during the summer of 20202 when the various members of the cabinet were discussing what could be done to deal with the various riots taking place around the country due to the death of George Floyd due to the actions of a Minneapolis police officer.
“The president was bellowing at a number of his Cabinet secretaries and especially the military guys, the DoD secretary and chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and calling all of us f***ing losers at the top of his lungs,” stated Barr.
Barr was known to butt heads with Trump while he ran the Department of Justice, which ultimately ended up with his resignation at the end of 2020 after famously telling Trump that the claims he was making about the election that he lost to President Joe Biden were rigged were total “bulls***.” While in office, however, Barr also stated to lawmakers that Trump had indeed been under FBI surveillance and that he also set up federal prosecutor John Durham, who is looking into the origin of the Russia collusion hoax, as a special counsel for the duration. That particular move effectively issued protection to Durham’s investigation from being swept under the rug by Biden and his administration.
Barr went on to state that the Russiagate Hoax was just a “big lie” that hurt Trump’s administration as the various reporters were handed out copious awards for reporting on the fake stories handed to them by various partisan governmental sources and Democratic operatives.
“I’ve been surprised that the mainstream media and the people who fanned this to the point of hysteria haven’t come back to say, ‘Yeah, there was a big lie in 2016 that has hurt the country and distorted our politics and foreign policy throughout the Trump administration. It was unjust. It was wrong. And we made a mistake.’ Very few, if any, have come out to say that,” he explained.
Barr went on to state that he agreed with most of the policy agenda from Trump, and that he should not have been impeached concerning the January 6 riots. As stated by Barr, almost all of the anger directed at Trump was entirely irrational.
“The Left has lost their mind over Trump — Trump derangement syndrome is a real thing — but Trump is his own worst enemy and has provoked a lot of the venom,” stated Barr.
For the next presidential election, Trump just is not the right person to mend the deeply polarized country back to unity, explained Barr.
“The problem with Trump is that it’s always about running just a base election, whip up your base, get your base all upset, get them outraged and turn them out at the polls,” he stated. “Both sides do that. It’s a prescription for continued hostility within the country, demoralization within the country, and an impasse with the country.”
