Barr: Trump should not testify in hush money case because ‘he lacks all self control’

Former Attorney General William Barr said former President Trump should not testify in the criminal case against him in New York because “he lacks all self control.”

“Generally, I think it’s a bad idea to go on the stand and I think it’s a particularly bad idea for Trump because he lacks all self control,” Barr said on “Fox News Sunday.” “It’d be very difficult to prepare him and keep him testifying in a prudent fashion.”

Barr’s comments come after Trump was indicted last week in the Manhattan investigation into alleged hush money payments made to Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election.

Trump has framed the investigation against him as a political persecution and his lawyers have vowed to fight the impending charges against him.

Barr served as Trump’s attorney general from 2019 to 2020 and was seen as a close ally and advocate for the president. He also served as former President George H.W. Bush’s attorney general. Barr resigned in December 2020.

Since then, Trump has been critical of Barr’s tenure, with the former attorney general breaking strongly from Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen and the former president’s efforts to overturn the contest. Barr has said that he does not support Trump’s 2024 reelection bid.

But Barr has also been critical of the prosecution in New York, saying the indictment of Trump shows the “abuse of the prosecutive function.”

“Based on what we know, it certainly appears to be,” Barr said on Sunday when asked if he thinks the indictment of Trump is a “political” prosecution. “I think the American people see that … pursuing a person rather than pursuing a real crime.”