'He was warned': Bill Barr knocks Donald Trump as 'a weak candidate' who 'dug himself a hole'

Ex-United States Attorney General Bill Barr spared no mercy in criticizing former President Donald Trump on Sunday's edition of This Week, opining that Trump's extensive legal predicaments will probably doom him if he wins the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 2024.

"We, we heard, uh, Jim Trustee make the case so the president can just decide whatever he wants to make personal as personal. That, that, that seems like an unusual reading of that law. But do you, do you think that this will end up in an, in an indictment, uh, from the special counsel [Jack Smith]? What's your read?" ABC News moderator Jonathan Karl asked.

"I did think it was, I was, my read was – before they found the documents in [President Joe] Biden's house and then the vice president, Vice President [Mike] Pence's house – my, my read was that, uh, they were going to indict him, and I still think there's a very good chance of that, uh, because, and I think it depends on how sensitive the documents were, but also, uh, what evidence they have of, uh, obstruction and games playing by the president and the, and whether he directed people to lie or gave them information that was deceitful to pass on to the government," Barr said. "Now, you know, the President, unfortunately, has a penchant for, uh, engaging in reckless and, and self-destructive behavior that brings these kinds of things on him. In many respects, he's his own worst enemy. I don't think that's the case, uh, with [Manhattan District Attorney Alvin] Bragg's, uh, case, but certainly he, he's dug himself a hole on the documents and also on the January 6th stuff. That was reckless behavior that was destined to end up, uh, being investigated. So it doesn't surprise me, uh, that he has all these legal problems. He was warned about this before he left office."

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Shortly thereafter, Karl noted that Trump has "also attacked, not surprisingly, Jack Smith, the special counsel on this. What's your assessment of Jack Smith?" Karl pressed Barr.

"I, I don't know him well, uh, by reputation," Barr responded. "He's a, he's a very dogged, uh, aggressive prosecutor, uh, who will, uh, get to the bottom of what happened. And, uh, this is one of the, the things that leads me to, uh, that if there's a case there to be made, it will be brought, uh, because I think the attorney general would not have select, would, would've selected another kind of special counsel if he wanted discretion, more discretion exercised. Like, well, yeah, there's a case, but we don't want to bring that case here because there's a lot of, uh, reasons, you know, against the pub, you know, it might hurt the public interest to do it or something. But I think here the decision has been made, uh, that if there's a case, it will be brought and that I still think that that's the likely posture of the government."

Karl further stressed that Attorney General Merrick Garland and the Department of Justice are "unlikely to bring a case that, that he thinks he's gonna lose. What do you think the likelihood is at the end of the day that we're actually gonna see Donald Trump convicted and sentenced to prison?" he wondered.

"Well, I don't think anything's gonna happen before a nomination is made and even perhaps until the election, the, the '24 election. This stuff is gonna drag out through, uh, through 24, and it's gonna stymie and, and disrupt the whole Republican, uh, primary process. And I think part of, as I said, I think part of the reasoning behind it is that they know this is a red flag to a big portion of Trump's base and that they're gonna rally, uh, to him because they feel that this is persecution and that will strengthen Trump's hand throughout the process," Barr replied, adding that "I also think though, as far as the general election is concerned, it will gravely weaken Trump. Uh, he's already I think, a weak candidate that would lose, but I think this sort of assures it."

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