Former Attorney General Bill Barr said that even as former President Trump faces an indictment in a New York state criminal case, his most serious legal troubles may lie in the federal investigation into his mishandling of classified information.
“I think the document case is the most serious case,” Barr said on “Fox News Sunday.” “I don’t think they went after those documents to get Trump. I think they actually wanted the documents back.”
Barr, who served as Trump’s chief law enforcement official from 2019 to 2020, contrasted what he saw as the seriousness of the documents probe against the Manhattan case that has led to an indictment of the former president, which he called a political prosecution.
“Based on what we know, it certainly appears to be,” Barr said on Sunday when asked if he thinks last week’s indictment of Trump is a “political” prosecution. “I think the American people see that… pursuing a person rather than pursuing a real crime.”
But Barr said he thinks the documents probe being led by a special counsel at the Department of Justice is a more legitimate investigation.
The investigation stems from the discovery that Trump took classified information from his time in the Oval Office, with a search warrant being executed in August on his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida for the documents.
“What’s at issue in that case is not the taking of the documents,” Barr said. “It’s what he did after the government sought them and subpoenaed them, and whether there was any obstruction. And I think that’s the most serious one out there.”
Trump has shrugged off all investigations into him, both at the state and federal level, and has framed them as witch hunts.
Barr on Sunday also downplayed the seriousness of the other federal investigation into Trump, which is focused on his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and actions on the day of the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol riots.
“I think the January 6th one, is a difficult case to make,” Barr said. “It also runs into First Amendment issues. You know, where are you going to draw the line between legitimate First Amendment activity, protesting an election and actually conspiring to undo an election?”