Democrats are likely using former President Donald Trump's indictment as a strategy to sink him in the 2024 presidential election, says former Attorney General William Barr.
"I think the impetus is really to help Trump get the nomination, focus the attention on him for two years, have this thing swirling around, plus whatever else comes, which I think will be damaging to whoever gets the nomination," Barr said Friday at the National Review Institute Ideas Summit.
He also dismissed the indictment as a politically motivated event.
"We don't know exactly what's there. But judging from the news reports ... it's the archetypal abuse of the prosecutorial function to engage in a political hit job," he said.
"And it's a disgrace if ... it turns out to be what we think it is. Politically, it's going to be damaging, I think, to the Republican Party, simply because, I think, it's a no-lose situation for the Democrats," he said.
"And legally, I think ... from what I understand, it's a pathetically weak case," Barr added.
Trump is due to be fingerprinted and photographed in a New York courthouse next week as he becomes the first former U.S. president to face criminal charges in a case involving a 2016 hush-money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
His expected appearance before a judge in Manhattan on Tuesday, as the Republican mounts a bid to regain the presidency, could further inflame divisions in the United States. A New York judge in a document unsealed on Friday authorized Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, to make the charges public, but it was not clear when he would do so.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.