Former AG Bill Barr: NY Case on Trump Has No ‘Merit,’ Others Worrisome

The case against former President Donald Trump in New York City does not have “any merit” and is “transparently an abuse of prosecutorial power to accomplish a political end,” but other investigations against him, in particular, the one concerning classified documents being kept at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, are more troubling, former Attorney General Bill Barr said Sunday. 

“I think of it as an unjust case,” Barr said on ABC News’s “This Week.” “That is not to say that every legal challenge that the president faces is unjustified, but this one especially is.”

Trump last week pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of the alleged falsification of business records but Barr said that falsifying a business record is a crime if it’s part of a fraudulent scheme. 

“I don’t see anywhere specified in here exactly what the fraud was,” Barr said. “These were his own business records. He was paying himself the hush money and the business records are his own company. He’s the owner of the company. I don’t see he was defrauded.”

There are also a “host of other problems” having to do with the statute of limitations in the case, as well as Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s “failure to specify exactly what the other crime that was being committed that makes this into a felony,” said Barr.

In addition, the information that Bragg has put out has been “very opaque,” he said.

“I think if he has a good case he would specify exactly what his case is,” said Barr. “He is trying to hide the ball. I think it is unfortunate.”

Further, the case “may accomplish its purpose, which is to get into the middle of the Republican primary process,” as “savvy Democratic strategists know this is going to help Trump.”

“They want him to be the nominee because he is the weakest of the Republican candidates and most likely to lose again to [Joe] Biden,” Barr claimed.

Barr also spoke out against Trump’s attacks on Bragg, along with Justice Juan Merchan and his family, saying that he does not think such language is “appropriate or wise.”

“The president notoriously lacks self-control and he frequently gets himself into trouble with these midnight tweets and other things,” said Barr. 

Meanwhile, there are other investigations ongoing against Trump, and Barr said if he was advising Trump he’d be most concerned about the case involving classified documents at the former President’s Mar-a-Lago estate. 

“He had no claim to those documents, especially the classified documents,” said Barr. “They belonged to the government. I think he was jerking the government around…I think that is a serious, potential case. [There is] very good evidence there.”

Part of Trump’s problem, Barr added, is that he has a penchant for engaging in reckless and self-destructive behavior that brings these kinds of things on him,” he added. “In many respects, he is his own worst enemy…It doesn’t surprise me that he has all of these legal problems. He was warned about this before he left office.”

Trump has also attacked Jack Smith, the special counsel appointed to investigate him, and Barr said he does not know Smith well, but by his reputation, “he is a very dogged, aggressive prosecutor who will get to the bottom of what happened.”

Meanwhile, the New York case will drag out through the election cycle, said Barr, and it will “disrupt the whole Republican primary process.” 

But as far as the general election itself, the case against Trump will “gravely weaken him,” said Barr.  “I think he is a weak candidate that would lose, but this sort of assures it.”