Bill Barr Tells Fox News Donald Trump Should Not Testify Because ‘He Lacks All Self Control’

Former Attorney General Bill Barr told Fox News Sunday that Donald Trump should not take the stand in the hush money case against him in New York. “Generally, I think it’s a bad idea to go on the stand,” Barr told host Shannon Bream. “And I think it’s a particularly bad idea for Trump because he lacks all self control.”

Barr said that the former president’s tendency to go off script could prove highly risky in the confines of a criminal case. “It’d be very difficult to prepare him and keep him testifying in a prudent fashion.”

Trump followed his attorney’s advice and declined to provide testimony before the New York grand jury that investigated the alleged hush money payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniels during Trump’s successful 2016 presidential campaign.

Barr, who served as attorney general in the Trump Administration from 2019 to 2020, was critical of the decision to indict the former president, saying it shows “abuse of the prosecutive function.” Asked if he thought the indictment was political, Barr said “based on what we know, it certainly appears to be,” adding that most Americans see the indictment as “pursuing a person rather than pursuing a real crime.”