Ex-AG Bill Barr says Trump should not testify in hush money case because ‘he lacks all self-control’
Former Attorney General Bill Barr on Sunday said Donald Trump shouldn’t testify in the criminal case against him “because he lacks all self-control” — while newly-minted Republican presidential hopeful Asa Hutchinson called on him to drop out of the 2024 race over the indictment.
Barr, who served as AG in the Trump administration, was asked by Fox News’ Shannon Bream whether lawyers for the 76-year-old former president should allow him to take the stand in his defense.
“Generally, I think it’s a bad idea to go on the stand and I think it’s a particularly bad idea for Trump because he lacks all self-control. And it would be very difficult to prepare him and keep him testifying in a prudent fashion,” Barr said on “Fox News Sunday.”
But Barr also said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg is abusing the function of prosecutions by “pursuing a person rather than pursuing a real crime” and warned of the fallout of such a politically charged case.
“The real danger of this thing over the long term isn’t so much narrowed to Trump,” he said. “It’s now we have thousands of DAs around the country, now that the Rubicon has been crossed, any one of them can find federal candidates or federal office holders and so forth, can find some state law they want to pursue the person on and get themselves into the national political arena.”
In addition to the indictment in Manhattan handed up last week, Trump is facing multiple investigations into the classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida and over his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.
Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor, called on Trump to withdraw from the 2024 race over the indictment, as he announced on ABC News that he will seek the Republican nomination.
“First of all, the office is more important than any individual person. And so, for the sake of the office of the presidency, I do think that’s too much of a side show and distraction, and he needs to be able to concentrate on his due process, and there is a presumption of innocence,” Hutchinson told ABC’s Jonathan Karl in an interview that aired Sunday on “This Week.”
”But the second reason is, throughout my eight years as governor, and as a political leader, I’ve always said that people don’t have to step aside from public office if they’re under investigation. But if it reaches the point of criminal charges that have to be answered, the office is always more important than a person,” Hutchinson added.
A Manhattan grand jury indicted Trump Thursday in connection to a $130,000 “hush money” payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels in the lead up to the 2016 presidential election. Trump is scheduled to be arraigned in Manhattan Supreme Court on Tuesday afternoon.
The former president, the frontrunner among Republican 2024 candidates, has accused Bragg of “prosecutorial misconduct” and “election interference.”
Hutchinson acknowledged that Trump will not withdraw from the race, leaving it up to voters whether Trump is elected in 2024.
“Well, he should. But, at the same time, we know he’s not. And there’s not any constitutional requirement. And so he’s going to pursue, and I understand that, but I stated my principles and belief and how I think it should be handled,” he said.
”But he’s going to proceed on. And so he’s going to be a candidate. And I think, ultimately, the voters are going to have to decide this,” he continued.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a 2016 hopeful who’s appears to be planning on jumping back into the fray this year, took a more nuanced approach.
Christie said “two things can exist at the same time.”
“You can be incredibly critical of the way Trump treats all of our institutions, the judiciary, being part it. And he has called for the use of prosecutorial power against people that he’s opposed to without knowing at all what the facts are. He should be criticized for that. I’ve criticized him for it and others have,” Christie said during an appearance on ABC Sunday.
”At the same time, there can be legitimate questions to be raised about Alvin Bragg’s conduct in this and his lack of use of prosecutorial discretion here,” he said.
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