William Barr, a Bush-era Republican, is one of the most brilliant legal minds in the business.
Having said that, I was stunned when Donald Trump signed him on as his attorney general, as this was never going to be a good fit.
Barr, for his part, has never really held a grudge while voicing his personal disgust at Trump, and he just proved it again, backing Trump on his move to federalize DC.
Barr and Trump got along for a bit, but toward the end of the administration, the two had a falling out that was very public and very brutal.
Barr did not like what he saw on January 6 and left office early, very critical in regard to Trump’s actions that day. However, in December, upon issuing his resignation, he noted how Democrats had weaponized the system against Trump.
He stated, “No tactic, no matter how abusive and deceitful, was out of bounds.
“The nadir of this campaign was the effort to cripple, if not oust, your administration with frenzied and baseless accusations of collusion with Russia.”
Barr has regularly opined against Donald Trump in the media, and he did it during the beginning of the 2024 election cycle.
In May 2023, Barr stated, “If you believe in his policies, what he’s advertising is his policies, he’s the last person who could actually execute them and achieve them.
“He does not have the discipline, he does not have the ability for strategic thinking and linear thinking or setting priorities or how to get things done in the system.”
Then came the gut punch, with Barr stating, “It is a horror show when he is left to his own devices.”
The one thing Barr has remained consistent about is that he has no problem eating crow when it calls for it, giving Trump his props when he deserves them. In the case of the DC takeover, Barr seems to think Trump hit the nail on the head regarding the crime problems in the city.
He stated, “And I think the president’s right on the money, and I think Judge Pirro laid out the case very well, and I’m glad she’s there, because she has the right idea of what needs to be done in this town.
“As far as crime is concerned, the crime levels are much too high. If it was a state, it would have the highest murder rate in the — in the country. It competes to be the capi — or the crime capital of the country, not the capital of this great republic, among St. Louis and Memphis and Chicago in terms of the violence. That’s not good enough. This place belongs to the American people, it’s a symbol of our country, and we have to keep it safe.”
This is a report to be taken seriously, considering Barr’s past tensions with Trump. Again, I may not like Barr, but there is no challenging the man’s legal prowess. This is a huge statement from Barr, and I am hoping it takes some of the heat off what Trump is doing in DC.
