Once a potential ally, former Attorney General William Barr says the Justice Department might "have the evidence" to indict former President Donald Trump.
"I personally think that they probably have the basis for legitimately indicting the president," Barr told PBS's "Firing Line" on Friday, before admitting, "I don't know, I'm speculating. But, given what's gone on, I think they probably have the evidence that would check the box."
Barr's opinion comes amid the National Archives' pursuit of Trump for documents from his presidency.
Trump has argued the documents in his possession are privileged and declassified by him, but Barr supported the notion President Joe Biden's Justice Department can search for documents and pressure the former president into a potential process crime.
"If the Department of Justice can show that these were indeed very sensitive documents, which I think they probably were, and also show that the president consciously was involved in misleading the department, deceiving the government, and playing games after he had received the subpoena for the documents, those are serious charges," Barr told PBS.
Barr resigned as Trump's attorney general around the time of the deadline to certify the 2020 presidential election — the election Trump sought to challenge through Jan. 6 — but Barr ultimately wants Trump to do what Trump says all the investigations are intended to force him to do: Step away from politics.
"He failed," Barr told PBS. "He didn't do what the whole country hoped — that he would rise to the occasion and rise to the office, and he didn't do that.
"So, he's had his chance. He obviously doesn't have the qualities necessary to unite the party, which is the first step on the road back, and he should stand aside."
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Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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