Donald Trump is trashing his former Attorney General Bill Barr in a three-page letter released on Monday morning, claiming he fired the Justice Department official because he had ‘no backbone.’
Barr sat down for a lengthy interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt which aired on Sunday night, to promote the release of his new memoir ‘One Damn Thing After Another.’
Trump said of the upcoming book, ‘I would imagine that if the book is anything like him, it will be long, slow, and very boring.’
The former Justice Department official condemned the ex-president’s 2020 election fraud claims and his role in last year’s Capitol riot, both in his book and televised interview.
‘Bill Barr cares more about being accepted by the corrupt Washington Media and Elite than serving the American people. He was slow, lethargic, and I realized early on that he never had what it takes to make a great Attorney General,’ Trump’s letter began.
‘When the Radical Left Democrats threatened to hold him in contempt and even worse, to Impeach him, he became virtually worthless fo Law and Order and Election Integrity. They broke him just like a trainer breaks a horse.’
The letter, dated March 2 and obtained by Axios, was sent to NBC’s New York City headquarters. In it are a series of questions followed by lengthy answers from Trump, seemingly in response to the NBC news team seeking comments on Barr’s interview.
Trump sent a letter dated March 2 addressed to NBC News headquarters in New York City, which appears to respond to claims made by Bill Barr in his lengthy Sunday night NBC interview with anchor Lester Holt
It was typed out addressed to ‘Mr. Holt’ but it appears the ex-president opted for a more personal touch by crossing that out and writing in ‘Lester’ by hand.
Trump claimed Barr’s dismissal of his 2020 election fraud claims was a ‘virtual joke.’
To support this he supposedly attached a report pointing to ‘widespread corruption’ in at least one swing state’s election count, which was not included in Monday’s report of the letter and did not seem to be picked up by by NBC.
The former president accused Barr of now ‘groveling to the media, hoping to gain acceptance that he doesn’t deserve.’
During his NBC interview Barr claimed he was ‘livid’ when he found out Trump had told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during their infamous 2019 phone call that the attorney general would reach out to him regarding Trump’s political rivals.
He told Holt that Trump ‘never really had a good idea of, you know, the role of the Department of Justice [and] to some extent, you know, the president’s role.’
Trump appeared to hit back at the assertion in the new letter, claiming what he asked of Barr had ‘nothing to do’ with his personal issues.
‘As President of the United States, I am the Chief Executive, who is responsible for the Department heads, which includes the Attorney General. When I saw that the Department of Justice was not doing their job, I have every legal right to ask them todo so, in accordance with the law and the Constitution. That has nothing to do with my personal legal interests,’ the ex-president said.
Barr briefly responded to Trump’s letter during another interview on NBC Monday morning
Barr told NBC’s Holt that he does not believe Trump understands how the Justice Department works and that he was ‘livid’ upon finding out his former boss indicated Barr’s department should investigate Trump’s political rivals
‘With respect to prosecuting political rivals, it was just the opposite. Despite the many crimes committed by the Biden family, I did not push Barr to go after them. While the things done were legendarily corrupt,I thought it would be inappropriate for me to get personally involved.’
In his forthcoming book, Barr claims he shouted down Trump’s attempt at discussing President Joe Biden’s son Hunter, who at the time was under a federal investigation over his foreign business dealings.
He also details one final, explosive confrontation with Trump in which the former president told Barr he ‘must hate Trump’ because he publicly dismissed the notion of widespread election fraud shortly after Biden won the White House.
Trump claimed Barr was ‘broken’ by Democrats and is now ‘groveling to the media, hoping to gain acceptance that he doesn’t deserve’
Barr claims in his book that Trump told him to go home immediately in response to Barr offering to tender his resignation. He left the Justice Department at the end of December 2020.
Trump said Barr’s version of events were ‘incorrect and a total fabrication.’
Instead, the former president claimed he said: ‘If you didn’t see corruption in the Election, of which so much has already been revealed (and massive amounts up until this date), than(sic) you are not capable of being Attorney General. You don’t have the energy or backbone to stand up to the Radical Left. Please give me your Letter of Resignation.’
Barr responded to Trump’s letter in a live interview with NBC’s Today on Monday morning.
‘Stolen and rigged are two different things, but there was no stealing of the election through fraud,’ the ex-attorney general said again. ‘Which means that people who are not qualified to vote or don’t exist, their votes were counted, or good votes were subtracted.’
‘The votes reflected the decision of the people.’
The final question Trump addresses in his letter are Barr’s allegations surrounding the insurrection last year.
On Sunday night Barr said he holds Trump ‘morally responsible’ for the events of January 6, 2021, though conceded he would not have prosecuted his former boss for it.
‘I do think he was responsible in the broad sense of that word, in that it appears that part of the plan was to send this group up to the Hill,’ Barr said. ‘I think the whole idea was to intimidate Congress. And I think that that was wrong.’
Trump claimed there ‘would have been no “January 6″‘ if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Washington, DC mayor had agreed to more security at the Capitol that day.
‘They were not interested in having the troops in Washington because they didn’t “like the look.” If they had taken my offer, there would have been no “January 6” as we know it,’ Trump said.
He claimed, ‘I was President of the United States and was asked to make a speech on January 6. I went to the site, made my speech, and returned to the White House.’
‘Now the Witch Hunt continues with Shifty Adam Schiff, RINO Liz Cheney, and others on what I call the Unselect Committee. In the long run, the American people will win.’
In his Monday morning interview Barr dismissed Trump’s letter as ‘childish.’
‘It’s par for the course,’ he replied when asked for his reaction.
‘The president is a man who, when he’s told something he doesn’t want to hear, he immediately throws a tantrum and attacks the person personally. So I thought the letter was — was childish.’
