Bill Barr Compares Trump To ‘A Defiant 9-Year-Old Kid’

Former Attorney General Bill Barr compared former President Donald Trump to “a defiant 9-year-old kid” and said Trump is “a very petty individual who will always put his interests ahead of the country’s.”

In an interview on CBS’ Face the Nation Sunday, Barr said Donald Trump has many “good qualities and he accomplished some good things,” but “he constantly engages in reckless conduct that puts his political followers at risk.”

Barr was asked if he believed that Trump, who was indicted on federal charges of mishandling government documents, lied to the Justice Department investigating the case. “Yes, I do,” Barr said.

Barr said that much of Trump’s defense in the case—that he has sweeping powers to declassify and possess government records from his time in office—“is absurd.” Barr said there’s simply no justification under the law for a former president to take sensitive documents like war plans or defense materials.

“The whole purpose of the Presidential Records Act was to stop presidents from taking records out of the White House,” Barr said. “It was passed after Watergate. That’s the whole purpose of it.”

Barr argued Sunday that should Trump once again be the Republican nominee for president, he would put the Republican agenda at risk. “Should we be putting someone like this forward as the leader of the country, the leader of the free world who is engaged in this kind of conduct?”