Bill Barr says Trump's classified documents case is his biggest legal risk

attorney general Bill Barr thank you for speaking with CBS News good to be here Catherine as attorney general you launched the special counsel John Durham probe critics say the Durham report fell flat what's your response well I I launched the Durham probe not as a criminal investigation but to get to the bottom of the whole Russia the Genesis of the russiagate scam and the people who were criticizing it are the people who perpetuated the big lie of Russia gate an advance that false narrative peddled it to the American people and did immense damage to our country to our institutions including the FBI and uh you know it's curious that they would say that a investigation that exposed the big lie they were involved in fell flat now they may be measuring it on the grounds that there were no prosecutions or or or none of the big players were prosecuted but I've said all along that's dangerous to get into the business of saying that the the standard is how many people you prosecute because the object here was to find out what happened and to tell the rights of the story to get to the bottom of it what is the legacy of the FBI's 2016 Russia collusion investigation and special counsel Robert Mueller well uh the immediate impact of it obviously was just was to uh hobble the administration which was unfair to a newly elected president who legitimately won the investigation uh and it divided the American people uh it uh turned a lot of the American people against the FBI and raised serious questions about the FBI uh it crippled our foreign policy it didn't allow us to do the kinds of things we had to do with Russia over the four years of the Trump Administration and in some ways really paved the way for Ukraine uh so and I think the media played a huge role in this and rightfully uh lost a lot of public trust by their behavior does special counsel Durham's recommendation that there should be the creation of a new position to oversee politically sensitive investigations go far enough well I think a lot of steps have been taken already and I think some of his proposals are are good ones and should be considered including you know having someone in the department uh review this and sort of play a red team role of pushing back on on uh some of the assumptions that are being made and made sure that that bias is not in play Not Just conscious partisan bias but just bias against individuals and a tendency to give too much Credence to things that are what you preconceive the truth to be and not enough attention to evidence that's inconsistent with your preconceptions which is appears to be what happened in this case there's a footnote in the report that says former FBI director James Comey declined to be interviewed did special counsel John Durham have the necessary powers and authorities to compel comey's testimony oh yeah I mean he he had all the power and authority he wanted and as I understand it I think the report indicates that he did use subpoenas to Grant immunity to certain Witnesses he had the ability to use a grand jury which he apparently did in some cases but it doesn't surprise me that you know a top person involved in this would not want to testify my assumption is that if had he been subpoenaed he would have asserted the Fifth Amendment you think Comey would have asserted the Fifth Amendment that's my guess that's my guess there are certainly no charges brought against the senior FBI leadership so is is that what accountability looks like in this case I think accountability looks like if people pay attention to the truth I mean there was a lot of attention paid by the media to all the little details that they thought implicated Trump in in collusion with Russia all of which were nonsense and yet we had a two-year study diet of this nonsense from the media now they should pay attention to the actual facts in the report and that's what accountability looks like moving on to the Trump investigations do these National Archives records that indicate then president Trump and his advisors were aware of the declassification process create new legal exposure you know I've said all along that of the cases out there right now the one I'd be most concerned about if I were the president former president is the Mar-A-Lago document case and why so well because it's it's uh it doesn't go a lot on intent or anything like that it's it's very it's very clear that he had no business having those documents uh he was given a long time to to send them back and he was they were subpoenaed and I said all along that you know he he wouldn't get in trouble probably just for taking them just as Biden I don't think is going to get in trouble or Pence is not going to get in trouble the problem is what did he do after the after the government asked for them back and subpoenaed them and if there's any games being played there he's going to be very exposed what's the impact of former president Trump's statements and that CNN Town Hall that the records become Declassified when they were taken out of the White House I don't think that argument is going to fly I don't think the idea that you know he automatically you know that they were somehow automatically Declassified when they were put in the boxes I don't think that will fly let's move on to the grand jury here in Washington what does the recent grand jury testimony by the former vice president Mike Pence tell us about the status of that special counsel investigation you know this is a serious investigation they're clearly trying to develop a case uh and get to the bottom of what happened and I think uh you know calling Pence and I guess they're going to be bringing in Meadows I they're they're trying to see whether or not they can show that a crime was violated I think the January 6th episode is going to be harder to establish a case in given the developments in the grand jury do you believe that special counsel Jack Smith is close to a charging decision my guess is that and this is you know I'm speculating but I would think they'd want to do it before the end of the year and you know it could be you know later in the summer or in the fall you know would be the earliest I would expect it and why that timing well because if they're close if they're close to a decision I think the process of you know reviewing that and socializing it with the attorney general and so forth uh and Buddy buttoning it up uh would probably take that long in our last interview you said if president Trump wins in 2024 he will be bent on Revenge is that still your view well I'm just quoting him I mean he caught up in his first rally and started talking about I am your retribution I'll be your you know short of justice and so forth It's it didn't it didn't sound like that's you know it sounds like that's what he has in mind and certainly you know some of his acolytes like Bannon have said similar things so uh and knowing his personality I think that will be a big part of it does he secure the nomination I don't think he will I mean I'm probably a minority of that right now but uh I I think uh that the Republican party will nominate somebody else I think there's a big opportunity the Republicans have because I think a majority of the country is is actually against the excesses of the progressive wing of the democratic party and will the progressive excesses that are going on and they want to pull back from that and that that is you know people of the center right uh some centrists and even some classical or or more traditional liberals or upset I don't like the what's going on but they're upset more by Trump many of them and uh so I think if the Republicans put up somebody who will unite the party and not be as divisive As Trump uh then I think the Republicans will have a big victory and that's the point of politics which is to win not only win elections but win with enough strength that you can actually do something and that's the main problem another big problem I think with Trump which is for the Republicans uh which is that uh even if he were to squeeze through somehow miraculously he will get crouched in the uh popular vote and the Republicans will lose control of the house and will not get control of this who do you think is the strongest candidate in the Republican field we're seeing DeSantis he's supposed to enter soon we've got a new ad from the Virginia governor Younkin and even Brian Kemp could get in well I'm not I'm not for any particular person at this point I think it's a it's a very good bench of very accomplished Governors there and as well as some non-governors like you know Tim Scott and so forth so uh I'm for whoever can can you know win the nomination under these circumstances what do you think the winning issues are for republicans in 2024 uh the horror show we see in the Biden Administration in front of us every day uh it's it's a it's a it's a complete and utter mess you know the the border is really just the most visible manifestation of the craziness uh but you go across the board you know the self-inflicted uh destruction of our energy Independence uh is another uh good example our more abortion restrictions a strong issue for republicans uh not not necessarily I think the Republicans you know my own View and I and I've always been a pro-life Republican and I'm glad that Roe v Wade was over turn because I think the decision does believe it belong to the people but there's a distinction between what people like me and other pro-lifers believe or you know is the moral principle and what we actually embody in our specific secular laws I would say even St Thomas Aquinas says that's a big difference and you basically I think we have to be judicious in what we uh propose as a law because I think the laws have to have a substantial support among the people has to reflect some kind of consensus and it has to be a durable solution it can't be bouncing back and forth all the time and I think conservatives have to look at what's going on now and say look our responsibility is to try to come up with with as much as we can agree on a stable place and continue to work on the hearts and minds of people because that's how we far we've gotten now has been based on changing people's minds don't you think at the state level they're becoming tourists I think I think in some States they're becoming too restrictive and uh at this point I mean I'm afraid that a number of pro-lifers you know feel that this is an opportunity for them to preen their own morality in front of everybody by sort of saying you know I'm not for any exceptions oh look how great I am we're talking about rules and restrictions placed on the on other people and I think we have to be very careful about that it's not about us demonstrating our Purity it's about finding something that allows us to live together in a stable way the hunter bind investigation launched when you were attorney general there was a recent meeting of his attorneys the U.S attorney in Delaware and Justice Department officials here in Washington what does that tell us about the status of the case my my I suspect that that they're nearing a charging decision and there's probably been a lot of hand-wringing in many different places but I assume that the defense went in there to try to sell what they think would be a a way to resolve this without serious charges against Hunter Biden I suspect that they're going to be unsuccessful a tax case in a gun case they don't take five years to investigate what do you think explains the delay in reaching a decision to either charge or shut the case well you know I think the tax casing and of itself could have been could have been complicated and it also requires working with the IRS and the tax division for the U.S attorney up in Delaware but I suspect that they've also been going through all the you know allegations that have been made about Ukraine and China and Romania and so forth what do you make of the fact that these subpoenaed bank records that were obtained by the house oversight committee show that at least nine members of the Biden family received money yeah I mean that was uh you know that was pretty uh appalling um but again I have as I did with the with the uh Durham investigation I I keep on explaining to people that there's a difference between abuses of power shameful behavior when you're in power and so forth and something that can actually be proven is a crime and you know I think it to me I I have the I've drawn the conclusion that there was a lot of shameful uh self-dealing and uh influence peddling and so forth and uh I think the American people should take note you know should that should be explained and shown to the American people the question of whether you can prove a crime is a different matter

Channel: CBS News

Views: 64,782

Keywords: William Barr, Donald Trump, Mar-a-Lago, CBS News, U.S., Politics

Id: gbPDkIPJSNE

Length: 14min 27sec (867 seconds)

Published: Fri May 19 2023