Bill Barr: It would be a 'mistake' for Republicans to nominate Trump in 2024

Former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr has drawn a great deal of criticism from Democrats as well as Never Trump conservatives for suggesting, during a March interview with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, that he would vote for former President Donald Trump over a Democrat if Trump is the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee — although Barr has also stressed that he doesn’t want Trump to be the nominee. And the 71-year-old Barr reiterated his opposition to nominating Trump in 2024 during a late April appearance on right-wing Newsmax TV.

During that appearance on Newsmax —which prides itself on being to the right of Fox News and Fox Business — Barr was asked if he would “vote for” Trump “again in ’24.” And the former U.S. attorney general responded, “Well, I’ve said that I don’t think he should be our nominee, the Republican Party nominee. And I think Republicans have a big opportunity; it would be a big mistake to put him forward.”

Before the 2020 president election, Barr was one of Trump’s most staunch loyalists. But after Trump lost the election to now-President Joe Biden, Barr refused to go along with his false claims of widespread voter fraud and made it clear that he believed Biden won the election legitimately. Barr, in fact, even used the word “bullshit” to describe Trump’s bogus election fraud claims.

Barr describes his falling out with Trump in his book, “One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General,” recalling that Trump was furious when he pushed back against the Big Lie. And seeing how angry Trump was, Barr resigned as U.S. attorney general in December 2020.