Bill Barr, who previously served as the U.S. Attorney General under former President Donald Trump, on Thursday spoke out about his grim predictions should his one-time boss retake the White House.
Trump is currently among the packed field of candidates seeking the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, as part of his attempt to win a second term in the Oval Office. He has consistently led the pack by a substantial margin, with national polling averages regularly giving him around 50 percent support from likely Republican voters, while his closest competitors, like Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, have struggled to maintain double-digit support.
Even as many members of the Republican Party have pledged their support for the former president, others have continued to speak out against him, including a notable number of his former White House staff members, like Barr. Once viewed by some as among the most loyal Trump allies, Barr has in recent months been outspoken in his criticism of the former president, frequently deriding him for his legal perils and his reelection ambitions. In a May interview, the former attorney general said another Trump term would amount to a "horror show," and that Trump would "deliver chaos" instead of policies.
Barr spoke at an event held Thursday by the University of Chicago's Institute of Politics, where he reiterated his concerns and grim predictions for a second Trump administration, claiming that Trump would be most interested in pursuing "retribution."
"He's already saying it's going to be about retribution, and he's a very petty man, and it's all about him," Barr said. "And he has a very fragile ego...Every encounter, he has to come out showing the other guy that he's better, it's all about the assertion of his ego. And I think he will be self-indulgent in a new administration. He won't be as effective as he would otherwise be, and probably, things would start moving toward chaos."
Newsweek reached out to Trump's office via email for comment.
In the past, Trump's representatives have been dismissive of Barr's comments, with a spokesman telling Newsweek in response to the May "horror show" comments simply: "Who?"
Trump himself, back in May, chastised his former attorney general for, as he claimed, having "crumbled under the pressure, and bowed to the Radical Left." This came in response to Barr calling Trump's false claims of 2020 election fraud "bulls***."
"Now he is groveling to the media, hoping to gain acceptance that he doesn't deserve," Trump said at the time.
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Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
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