Former AG Bill Barr said Trump is 'toast' if 'even half' of the charges in his classified documents case are true
REUTERS/Leah Millis
- Former AG Bill Barr appeared on Fox News Sunday to discuss his former boss' indictment.
- "If even half of it is true, then he's toast," Barr said on Fox News Sunday.
- Trump is facing 37 federal charges that he illegally took classified info from the White House.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr said his ex-boss, former President Donald Trump, is "toast" if even some of the allegations that he illegally took classified documents on his way out of the White House are true.
Barr told Shannon Bream on Fox News Sunday that it was "ridiculous" to portray Trump as a victim of a witch hunt in the federal case.
"I was shocked by the degree of sensitivity of these documents and how many there were, frankly," Barr said in the interview Sunday. "So, the government's agenda was to get those, protect those documents, and get them out, and I think it was perfectly appropriate to do that."
"It was the right thing to do," Barr added. "And I think the counts under the Espionage Act, that he willfully retained those documents, are solid counts. I do think we have to wait and see what the defense says and what proves to be true, but I do think … if even half of it is true, then he's toast. It's a very detailed indictment, and it's very, very damning."
—The Recount (@therecount) June 11, 2023
Trump's indictment, unsealed last week, alleges Trump "willfully" hoarded classified documents revealing nuclear secrets, foreign intelligence and more and then failed to return them when his presidency ended.
Trump has denied the Department of Justice's allegations and said he was authorized to take the documents.
Barr is one of the sole, prominent voices in the GOP who has been critical of Trump and the actions alleged in his indictment. All of the Republican nominees for president – even his rival, Gov. Ron DeSantis – have either defended Trump or shied away from any disapproval of the former president in this case.
The former attorney general said that while Trump has been unfairly targeted in the past, there was no evidence of that in this case.
"This idea of presenting Trump as a victim here, a victim of a witch hunt, is ridiculous," Barr said. "Yes, his adversaries have obsessively pursued him with phony claims –and I've been at his side defending against him when he is a victim. But this is much different. He's not a victim here."
Trump is set to appear in federal court in Miami early next week. The judge overseeing the case, Aileen Cannon, is a Trump appointee and wields tremendous power in how Trump's case will be tried, Insider's Global Editor-in-Chief Nich Carlson reported.