Bill Barr says the First Amendment will not protect Donald Trump from charges of trying to overturn the election
- Bill Barr was Donald Trump’s attorney general from February 2019 until December 23, 2020: the pair clashed over the election results
- Barr, who was also attorney general under George H. W. Bush, has been blistering in his criticism of Trump’s actions on January 6, 2021
- On Wednesday, Barr said Trump did not have First Amendment protection against Tuesday’s indictment on election interference charges
Donald Trump‘s former attorney general said the 77-year-old has no First Amendment protection in his election interference case – claiming Trump had freedom to speak his mind, but not freedom to conspire to overturn the election.
Bill Barr said he thought the four-count indictment, unsealed on Tuesday, presented ‘a legitimate case’.
Barr, a life-long Republican who served as George H.W. Bush’s attorney general before playing the same role for Trump, said he worried about a ‘slippery slope of criminalizing legitimate political activity’, but did not believe the Justice Department had been ‘weaponized’ against Trump.
Barr has been strongly critical of Trump’s actions in the aftermath of the 2020 election and on Wednesday night told CNN he felt Trump’s behavior was ‘nauseating’ and ‘sickening’.
He refused to answer whether he had spoken to prosecutors during their investigation.