Bill Barr Bristles At Fox Anchor Asking Why He’s Defending Trump After Having ‘Turned’ On Him
Fox News anchor Sandra Smith asked former attorney general Bill Barr on Wednesday how he would respond to people essentially calling him a flip-flopper on ex-president Donald Trump, and he responded with a slam on media who frame questions the way Smith just did.
After New York Attorney General Letitia James announced the civil fraud lawsuit against Trump, his adult children, and his company, Barr was one of many dozens of political somebodies brought on cable news to analyze and react. Mostly, those reactions echoed CNN’s Alisyn Camerota, who said, “It is amazing that it took so long for someone to hold him responsible.”
Barr, on the other hand, slammed the attorney general for “gross overreach” and described it as a “political hit job.”
“I think it will make people sympathetic for Trump, that this is another example of people piling on because of Trump Derangement Syndrome, the strong desire to punish him,” said Barr among his several criticisms.
It was then that Smith asked him about seeming to defend Trump now after his many recent newsworthy attacks on the ex-president under whom he served.
“What would you say to someone, someone watching right now who says it looks like you’re coming to the former President Trump’s defense when many, including The Atlantic, recent write-up saying that you’ve turned on the former president?” asked Smith, referring specifically to Jon Karl‘s essay on the subject of the ‘break-up.”
Barr responded by characterizing the idea of being on Trump’s side or not as a concoction of media coverage.
“Well, you know, that’s the way news is covered these days, as if it’s a sporting event, and you know, you’re either wearing this jersey or that jersey,” Barr accurately observed. “And the jersey, you know, I think, is specific to the facts and the truth in an individual situation.”
Barr extended his argument for judging things on their own merits to say that there are good investigations and bad ones when it comes to Trump. Specifically that the suit brought by AG James is the latter, he emphasized.
“There are times where people may, you know, be conducting legitimate investigations into some of Trump’s actions, but this isn’t one of them,” said Barr. “And it is simply true that there are a lot of long knives out for him. And, you know, people tend to go after Trump, target him unfairly, apply different standards of justice.”
“When that happens,” Barr said in conclusion, “I think it has to be called out.”
Watch the clip above, via Fox News.
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