Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr said Sunday he would advise against putting former President Donald Trump on the stand if the grand jury case were to go to trial, claiming it would be a “particularly bad idea” to do so.
“Generally, I think it’s a bad idea to go on the stand, and I think it’s a particularly bad idea to put Trump because he lacks all self-control and it’d be very difficult to prepare him and keep him testifying in a prudent fashion,” Barr told “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream.
Trump, who is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is expected to be arraigned in New York City on Tuesday after being indicted last week. The indictment in the case remains under seal.
Barr said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg appears to be stepping into federal boundaries with the charges, arguing that Bragg is “interfering with a federal election process.”
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“It’s actually Bragg that seems to me that’s jumped into the federal arena,” Barr said. “He’s interfering in a federal election process and his case is built on an alleged violation of federal law. He wouldn’t be able to survive the statute of limitations and not be able to juice what is a misdemeanor into a felony without claiming there’s a violation of federal law. So, he’s the one that’s essentially weighed into the federal arena.”
House Republicans demanded to see documents and testimony in the case against the former president, with Bragg later firing back by calling the GOP lawmakers’ demands “unlawful political interference” in an ongoing criminal case.
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The charges against Trump are expected to relate to his alleged 2016 hush-money scandal that the Manhattan DA’s office has already been investigating for five years.
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If the charges are related to the 2016 scandal, prosecutors are expected to argue that the $130,000 sum given to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and the $150,000 given to former Playboy model Karen McDougal were improper donations to the Trump campaign, which helped his candidacy during the 2016 election.
“I think the case, based again on what’s been reported, the case lacks any legal basis,” Barr said Sunday. “There’s nothing inherently wrong or illegal about making a hush payment. … The idea that this was a campaign finance violation is simply wrong, it’s wrong on the law.”
Fox News’ Marta Dhanis and Brooke Singman contributed to this report.
