Bill Barr willing to testify in ‘legitimate’ Trump indictment

Ex-Attorney General Bill Barr on Sunday said he’d be willing to testify in the latest criminal case against his onetime boss — calling the 2020 election interference indictment against former President Donald Trump “legitimate.”

Barr, in an interview on CBS News, brushed aside the argument by Trump’s legal team that the 77-year-old former president was indicted over statements protected by the First Amendment.

“It’s certainly a challenging case, but I don’t think it runs afoul of the First Amendment,” Barr said on “Face the Nation.”

“From a prosecutor’s standpoint, I think it’s a legitimate case,” he said.

The former AG added that he would “of course” testify in the case, should he be called to the stand — but sidestepped questions about whether he cooperated with the inquiry by Special Counsel Jack Smith that led to Trump being hit with the four-count indictment last week.

Fellow Trump administration alum, former Vice President Mike Pence indicated Sunday he doesn’t plan to testify unless forced to do so. Pence previously raised constitutional concerns about being compelled to testify before a grand jury in the case, but ultimately took the stand earlier this year.

Back in June, Barr had posited that “the Jan. 6 case will be a hard case to make because of First Amendment interest.”

Trump’s lawyers have raised First Amendment concerns in the case, which marks the third indictment brought against the former president in the past four months.

“There’s a lot of confusion out there,” Barr said Sunday of the free speech concerns.

“This involved a situation where the states had already made the official authoritative determinations … sent the votes and certified them to Congress,” he continued.

“The allegation essentially by the government has been at that point, the president conspired, entered into a scheme that involved a lot of deceit, the object of which, was to erase those votes.”

Barr underscored that federal prosecutors go beyond targeting Trump for espousing dubious election fraud claims and zero in on procedural machinations.

“You have to remember, a conspiracy crime is completed at the time, it’s agreed to and first steps are taken. That’s it,” Barr said.

Trump lawyer John Lauro contended on CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday that the former president’s actions were above board.

“All of this played out in the open. It’s all free speech,” Lauro insisted. “There was a Supreme Court decision, Hammerschmidt, which is right on point that says when you’re exercising free speech, you’re not engaging in a fraud on the government.”

The former president, himself, has roundly denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to the charges at his arraignment in Washington, DC federal court Thursday.

His next hearing is slated for Aug. 28, during which a trial date is expected to be set.

Trump said Sunday he is seeking to move the case out of the Democratic stronghold and get a different judge assigned to the case.

Barr previously surmised that a DC jury “could be fair” to Trump.

The ex-AG famously had a tumultuous tenure in the Trump administration, ultimately having a falling out with the former president over his “bulls—” election fraud claims.

Barr has since sought to call balls and strikes on Trump, while also urging the GOP to dump him in 2024.

He previously torched the 34-count criminal indictment brought against Trump by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg as “weak and unjust,” but defended the other federal case the ex-president faces in Florida for allegedly hoarding classified documents.