Bill Barr endorses Trump over Biden amidst criticism of former president’s actions

Former Attorney General Bill Barr has announced that he intends to vote for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election against incumbent Joe Biden, despite previously stating that Trump should not be near the Oval Office due to his attempts to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power following the 2020 election. In an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Friday, Barr explained: “I think Biden is unfit for office… I believe he will do less damage over the four years.”
Barr was more critical of Trump after his indictment in a federal election subversion case last year, describing his alleged actions as “nauseating” and “despicable”. However, Collins pressed Barr on whether his previous statements meant that Biden’s potential presidency would be less damaging than another term for Trump. In response to this query, the former attorney general clarified: “Between Biden and Trump, I will vote for Trump because I believe he will do less damage over the four years.”
Barr went on to assert that while some of the 88 criminal charges against the former president might be justified, when taken as a whole they did not change his mind. He further elaborated: “I’m supporting the Republican ticket,” and continued by describing the difference between both parties in stark terms insisting that “the real threat to freedom and democracy has always been on the left”.
Collins pressed Barr several times for direct answers but often got unsatisfying or obfuscating replies, including when she asked whether Trump’s attempts at disrupting the peaceful transfer of power following his 2020 election loss were worse than Biden administration actions. “Did he succeed?” was Barr’s response to Collins before adding: “I think when you have a Hobson’s choice, you have to pick the lesser of two evils.”
Barr also weighed in on Trump’s claims that presidents should not be subjected to criminal prosecution for their actions while they are still in office. Barr told CNN that he disagreed with this stance but noted: “There has to be some precision as to what exact where exactly he crossed the line.”
The Supreme Court heard arguments yesterday regarding whether a president can claim absolute immunity from criminal prosecutions whilst in power, which is something Trump claims for his actions during and after the 2020 election. Barr believes that this case should have been tried before the election and explained: “I feel it’s going to have to go back to the district court… Was this a president seeing that laws were faithfully executed or was this candidate trying to bully [state governments] into changing their votes?” When pressed about which situation Trump fell under, Barr remained undecided but conceded he hadn’t been happy with how Trump behaved after his election loss.