Donald Trump arrest: Bill Barr says ‘unjust case’ will elevate ‘weakest’ GOP 2024 hopeful
Ryan King
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Former Attorney General Bill Barr doubled down on his criticism of the indictment against former President Donald Trump and surmised the move will boost him in the primary.
“I think it also may accomplish its purpose, which is to get into the middle of the Republican primary process and turn it into a circus,” Barr told ABC’s This Week. “Ultimately, the savvy Democratic strategists know this is going to help Trump, and they want him to be the nominee because he is the weakest of the Republican candidates — the most likely to lose again to Biden.”
WATCH: BILL BARR CALLS TRUMP INDICTMENT AN ‘ABUSE OF THE PROSECUTIVE FUNCTION’
Barr previously bashed the indictment of Trump as an “abuse of the prosecutive function.” His tumultuous tenure atop the Justice Department during the Trump administration ended in a falling out with his onetime boss over Trump’s election fraud allegations.
Since then, he has criticized Trump multiple times in his public commentary. He has also urged the GOP to nominate someone other than Trump.
On Tuesday, Trump was formally arraigned in a Manhattan court and pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in what prosecutors described as a “catch and kill” scheme to breach election laws in 2016.
“I don’t see anywhere specified in here exactly what the fraud was. These were his own business records. He was paying himself the hush money, and the business records were his own company,” Barr said. “I think if he has a good case, he would specify exactly what his case is, but he’s trying to hide the ball.”
Falsification of business documents is typically considered a misdemeanor in New York.
Details from the indictment, a fact sheet, and a press conference from Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg (D) suggested the charges were elevated to felonies due to a breach of campaign finance laws.
Trump was accused of partaking in a scheme to funnel hush money payments to a Trump Tower doorman, porn star Stormy Daniels, and former Playboy model Karen McDougal to keep them quiet about information that could’ve been damaging to his 2016 campaign.
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“I don’t think it has any merit. I think it is transparently an abuse of prosecutorial power to accomplish a political end. And I think it’s an unjust case. That’s not to say that every legal challenge that the president faces is unjustified. But this one, especially, is,” Barr added.
Trump is set to attend a court hearing in December. He is currently the 2024 GOP front-runner.