The former confidante of Donald Trump has turned against him and has now expressed his desire to testify against the former president.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr said he was willing to testify against Donald Trump in the Jan. 6 indictment trial.
When asked in an Aug. 6 interview with CBS whether he would consider appearing as a witness in the Trump indictment, Mr. Barr replied, “Of course.” As to whether he was interviewed on the issue by special counsel Jack Smith who filed the indictment, Mr. Barr said that he was “not going to get into any discussion” on the matter.
Regarding the indictment, Mr. Barr said that though “it’s certainly a challenging case,” he doesn’t believe it “runs afoul of the First Amendment.”
“This involved a situation where the states had already made the official and authoritative determination as to who won in those states, and they sent the votes and certified them to Congress,” he said.
“The allegation essentially by the government is that, at that point, the president conspired, entered into a plan, a scheme that involved a lot of deceit, the object of which was to erase those votes, to nullify those lawful votes, disenfranchise people.”
“What the indictment says is the stuff that they were spouting, they knew was wrong and false. This is not a question of what his [Mr. Trump] subjective idea was as to whether he won or lost. They’re saying—what you were saying consistently, the stuff you were spouting, you knew was wrong,” Mr. Barr stated.
“You have to remember, a conspiracy crime is completed at the time it’s agreed to, and the first steps are taken. That’s it. That’s when the crime is complete from a prosecutor’s point of view.”
Mr. Barr has previously made similar comments about the First Amendment. Trump’s attorneys insist that the former president was only exercising his First Amendment rights when questioning the legitimacy of the 2020 election results.
“I really don’t think that’s a valid argument,” Mr. Barr said in an Aug. 2 interview with CNN.
“As the indictment says, they are not attacking his First Amendment right. He can say whatever he wants, he can even lie. He can even tell people that the election was stolen when he knew better,” Mr. Barr said.
“But that does not protect you from entering into a conspiracy. All conspiracies involve speech, and all fraud involves speech. So, free speech doesn’t give you the right to engage in a fraudulent conspiracy.”
However, legal expert and former Trump lawyer Alan Dershowitz dismisses Mr. Barr’s claims. In an interview with Fox on Friday, Mr. Dershowitz said that Mr. Barr is “dead wrong” on the issue as the Trump indictment is “a free speech case.”
“Everything involves his (Trump) exercise of free speech. And not only First Amendment free speech but also the First Amendment right to petition the government for a redress of grievances.”
