Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr recently claimed that Former President Trump’s strategy to "run out the clock" in Special Counsel Jack Smith’s federal prosecution against may prove "successful" and that he could make it to the presidency before he’s convicted of a crime.
Though Barr weighed in on Trump’s potential political fate, he still declined to say whether he’d vote for or against his former boss for president, only saying, "I’ll jump off that bridge when I get to it."
Barr made the statements during a Saturday segment of Fox News Channel’s "Cavuto Live," giving host Neil Cavuto an assessment of the U.S. Supreme Court recently declining Smith’s request that the court expedite a ruling on whether Trump has immunity from prosecution related to the 2020 election interference case.
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The court’s denial – which came after Trump’s legal team asked the court not to rush a ruling –means a trial of the former president may be delayed, and a potential conviction on federal charges may not come until after Trump is re-elected.
Cavuto prompted Barr, stating, "You know, the core of the former president’s argument – the legal team’s argument – is to challenge a lot of this and push it back. And some have argued that he’s running out the clock, but that It’s working for him. Do you agree with that?"
Barr replied, "Yeah, I mean his strategy is to run out the clock and he has a lot of tools to do that, and he may be successful."
Laying out what Trump’s defense against Smith’s case is, Barr explained, "This issue here – I think everyone agrees that there’s something called absolute immunity for your official functions – if you’re performing an official function, the president has absolute immunity, and I think that has to be protected. I support that."
He continued, noting how both sides in Smith’s case will view Trump’s actions in questioning the 2020 election: "The government’s position is gonna be that he was a candidate, he was acting as a candidate, not really as president. And [Trump’s] argument is gonna be, I think, that whenever he uses an official function, if he directs the department to do something – even if the purpose is as a candidate – but if he uses that tool, then he’s immune."
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"And that’s where the case is gonna hinge," Barr added.
Elsewhere in the interview, Barr spoke about the Colorado Supreme Court ruling to remove Trump from the state primary ballot this week. The former government official slammed the decision, saying, "I hope the [U.S. Supreme] Court – the Court has to smack this down very quickly. I think the legal argument here for it is ridiculous. Even more importantly, it is highly destructive, and it’s exactly the kind of tactics by the left that created Donald Trump in the first place."
After the legal assessments and further talk about a potential second Trump presidency, Cavuto asked, "But if that’s your choice, Joe Biden or Donald Trump, where does Bill Barr go?"
He replied, "Well as I said, I’ll jump off that bridge when I get to it." Cavuto pressed once more, asking Barr how he could vote for Trump after the "bad blood" between them. He replied, "Well, I could not support Biden."
