Former Attorney General Bill Barr on Trump investigations, 2024 Republican candidates

CBS News has confirmed that lawyers for former president Trump had a meeting yesterday at the justice department as he faces possible charges on multiple issues being investigated by a special counsel for insight into this and much more we're joined by Bill Barr who served as attorney general in the Trump Administration since then he has criticized a former president on a number of fronts he's also the author of I love this title one damn thing after another Memoirs of an attorney general which is out in paperback today wherever you like to buy your books we're happy to say that bill Barr joins us at the table this morning good to see you good to see you Bill Barr listen I know from reading your book you play a mean bagpipe but I'm understanding you're not going to be serenading us today not today yeah our loss but let's talk about the meeting yesterday that the Trump attorneys had with this special counsel what does it say to you what is the significance because you know how this game is played you know this record you know this song what did it say to you I think I think that meeting was probably held to complain about some aspects of the special counsel's work because generally the special counsel is generally independent and can make up their own mind and I think they probably went to Maine Justice which is where this meeting was held to complain of the claim that the special counsel hasn't been following the rules but does it say to you that an indictment is near do you believe that I suspect it's I suspect it's there I've said for a while that I think this is the most dangerous legal risk facing the former president uh and if I had to bet I would bet that it's near you believe there is enough evidence well they won't indict if there's not enough evidence but from what I've seen there's substantial evidence there and if there is a Federal indictment Bill do you think that that hurts him politically you know it seems that whenever he's indicted or he's um under scrutiny his numbers go up the support goes up the donations go up do you think a Federal indictment will make a difference and I know it won't for his core base so in the media future it might but I think if the based on the facts as the facts come out I think over time people will see that this is not a case of the Department of Justice you know conducting a Witch Hunt in fact they approach this very delicately and with deference to the president and this would have gone nowhere had the president just returned the documents but he jerked them around for a year and a half and the question is did he deceive them and if there's evidence of that I think people will start to see that this says more about Trump than it does the Department of Justice and that is that he's so egotistical that he has this penchant for for conducting you know risky Reckless acts to show that he can sort of get away with it it's part of asserting his his his ego and he's done this repeatedly at the expense of all the people who depend on him to conduct The public's business in an honorable way and you know we saw that with both impeachments and there's no excuse for what he did here whether it's a crime or not remains to be seen do you think he deceived them you know this man very well you think I think the government believes that I didn't ask to the government I said do you think you know I don't know I don't know I don't know the evidence in that kind of detail but you also said he didn't act in an honorable way everybody who knows you says that you are an honorable man they may disagree with some of the things you say or some of the things you do but they say the core Bill bar is he's an honorable man and I guess I wonder why you worked with him for so long seeing the things that you saw up close and personal why you stayed as long as you did well I went into the administration halfway through and I did it at a time where I felt he was being treated unfairly on the russiagate thing I thought that was a you know it turned out to be I think a big lie and I felt that he does he was the duly elected president and he deserved the chance to conduct his administration and I went in because I thought I could help stabilize things and also have the administration conducted in an appropriate way and uh as I I felt the idea that the election was stolen was a big lie and I wasn't going to play a part in you called him on that yeah Mr attorney general uh the former president Trump is still the odds on leader of the party and the likely winner of the primary if it were be to be held today uh in all 50 states but you don't think he's going to win the nomination I know you still hold that view uh who do you like as an alternative is it Ron DeSantis is it the governor of Virginia is it uh the governor of North Dakota if you're a republican voter right now you've got a lot of strong choices out there yeah I like I like most of the people running I think they're great and what they show uh and and people who are locked into Trump have to start focusing on the facts and the facts are that we have Republican leaders who can follow conservative policies uh and expand the vote and win crushing victories like DeSantis did like Governor Kemp in Georgia like Governor Younkin who's very popular in Virginia following conservative policies yeah Trump is almost unique in his inability to attract voters he repels people other than his core base and he's got a strong psychological hold on that core base so in 2020 uh the the Democrats coalesced around Joe Biden right there there was a point in which the other candidates dropped out and all the energy went to him could Republicans who don't have quite the organizational uh set up that the Democrats have do the same thing here so that Trump does not become the winner by default yeah I hope they have the self-discipline to do it and I expect that at the beginning of 24 a lot of the candidates will pull out I think it's good that they're out there talking that's a good process but once they it's clear they don't have a chance they should pull out but last time you were here last time you were here though Mr attorney general you said if Trump is you called him his ability is a horror show he would only deliver chaos if elected again but you told us at that time if he were the nominee you would still support him yeah yeah I mean I I think you still support him I don't see myself not supporting the Republican candidate and that's it even based on the choice between because because I think look I I think Biden is just as you know he has a different set of problems I think neither of them in my opinion are fit for the office and the American people deserve better but if I'm confronted with that choice I have to go with policy who's closest to me on policy so you're going to lean lean Republican even if there's a better Democratic candidate he's well I I'm talking about Biden here I know but will we see a bill Barr endorses headline this election cycle endorses who somebody you're going to endorse at some point if I become convinced sure all right may I say that your book Bill Barr one damn thing after another is available wherever you like to buy your books we'll be right back call them Hill endorse

Channel: CBS Mornings

Views: 246,542

Keywords: attorney general, bill barr, trump, biden, investigations, 2024, republican candidates

Id: 4KGvBuSQQjA

Length: 6min 47sec (407 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 06 2023