- Former prosecutor William Barr said it would be a “huge mistake” for Trump to be the GOP’s nominee in 2024.
- “I don’t think it should be our candidate, the Republican Party’s candidate,” Barr told Newsmax.
- Barr and Trump have butted heads since Barr’s memoir was published in March.
Former Attorney General William Barr said this week that he thought the Republican Party would make a “huge mistake” if it chose Donald Trump as its 2024 presidential candidate.
Barr made the statement during an appearance Thursday on Newsmax’s “Spicer & Co.” He told host Sean Spicer, a Trump administration alumnus, that he thought Trump should not be on the 2024 Republican ticket.
“I don’t think it should be our candidate, the Republican Party’s candidate,” Barr said. “And I think the Republicans have a great opportunity: It would be a huge mistake to introduce it.”
While Trump has not formally declared that he will run for president in 2024, he has provided important hints on how to do so. For example, in January, he called himself the “45 and 47” president in a video shot by a fellow golfer.
Senior Republican lawmakers such as Lindsey Graham have also endorsed Trump’s possible 2024 candidacy. Graham said in February that Trump has a “great shot” of becoming president in 2024 and that the spot on the Republican ticket was “his nomination to take.”
Barr and Trump have had a strained relationship, particularly after a difficult period during the final months of the Trump administration.
In March, Barr published a book called “One Damn Thing After Another,” in which he refuted Trump’s claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, writing, “The election wasn’t ‘stolen.’ Trump lost it.”
During an interview with NBC in March, Barr said Trump never had a “good idea” of what the roles of the president or the Justice Department were.
In response to Barr’s claims, Trump released a letter calling him “slow” and “lethargic” and a “major disappointment.”
The letter sparked a feud between the two, with Barr calling Trump “childish” and accusing the former president of having a “tantrum.”
In March, Barr also repeatedly pressed Trump, saying that Trump was not his “idea of president.” In a separate NBC appearance, Barr said working with Trump was like “fighting an alligator” and that the former president loved being “surrounded by yes men.”