Barr says claims Trump trials will interfere with election ‘simply wrong’

Former Attorney General Bill Barr pushed back against the claims that former President Trump’s trials will interfere with the 2024 election, calling them “simply wrong.” 

“The basic principle in the criminal justice system is if a prominent person commits a crime and they’re seeking office, that doesn’t give them immunity,” Barr said on Fox News’s “America Reports.” “If there’s enough time to have it resolved before the election, it should be resolved.” 

Barr was also shown a clip of Republican presidential candidate and Trump critic Chris Christie saying earlier this week that Trump’s “conduct” and “insistence on continuing to run for president,” is what interferes with the primary process. 

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Barr agreed with Christie, calling the claims “silly.” 

“Just think, some mayor charged with massive embezzlement and he says, ‘Well, you know, it’s a year and a half to the election, let’s put that on hold while I run for reelection.’ It’s silly,” said Barr, who served under Trump but broke with him by denying his claims of election fraud. 

Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan set Trump’s Washington trial for March 4, one day before Super Tuesday, when voters in more than a dozen states will head to the polls for the Republican presidential primary.

Trump’s team had asked for a trial date in April 2026.

The D.C. trial is one of three scheduled during the primary process in 2024. His fourth case in Georgia has yet to be scheduled but also could fall during campaign season. 

Trump’s trial over an alleged hush money scheme before the 2016 election is slated to begin March 25 in Manhattan, two days after the Louisiana primary and one week before the April 2 primaries in Delaware, New York, Rhode Island and Wisconsin. 

The trial for Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents after he left office is scheduled in Florida for May 20, one day before Kentucky and Oregon hold their primary elections. 

The former president has pushed for later trial dates, arguing his mounting legal troubles are likely to take him away from the campaign trail at times.