Bill Barr: Trump Would Not ‘Move the Country Forward’ If Reelected

‘I think for people going into that administration. I think they have to be ready to oppose the abuse of government power,’ said Mr. Barr.

President Donald Trump (L) and Attorney General William Barr at the White House on May 22, 2019. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Former Attorney General Bill Barr said former President Donald Trump would not move the country forward if reelected for the second term in 2024.

During an interview with Fox News on Saturday, Mr. Barr warned that a Trump second term would be a “retribution presidency” and unproductive due to his governance style.

“One of the reasons I’m against Trump as the nominee is because I don’t think he’s going to move the country forward,” Mr. Barr said.

“I’m worried ... his style of governance, his continuing to pander to anger and frustration versus a constructive approach to solving our problems, is going to be chaotic and not accomplish very much,” he added. “He’ll be a lame duck president.”

Mr. Barr served in the Trump administration from 2019 to 2020 but has become a frequent critic of the former president after leaving office and has rebuffed claims about 2020 election fraud.

When asked about his advice for a new attorney general for a potential second Trump administration, Mr. Barr said the person needs to challenge Trump if necessary, particularly in case of possible “abuse of government power.”

“He has to be ready to say no and to resign,” he said. “Trump has made it plain that he’s going to respond to what he considers the left wings’ ‘no holds barred’ approach by fighting fire with fire. ‘Whatever tactics they use, we’re going to use.’”

“Trump needs people around him who will push back and help keep him on the straight and narrow,” he said.

In the interview, Mr. Barr expressed his support for other Republican candidates for the 2024 GOP nomination. He named former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley as one of the candidates who could beat President Biden and unite the country.

“There’s a lot of attention paid to the polls that show him two or three points ahead of Biden. But very little attention is being paid to the polls that show some of the other candidates, like Haley, beating Biden by 17 points,” Mr. Barr said. “A Republican candidate who’s able to win a decisive victory will be much better positioned than Trump to move the country forward.”

In addition, Mr. Barr blamed radical Democrats for creating the current situation.

“I’m also horrified by the prospect of the Biden presidency. I think the most dangerous players on the field have been for the last two decades, the Democratic left—the radical left—they’ve created Trump, and they continue to breathe life into him. And they have this [sic] no holds-of-barred tactics. And Biden has essentially facilitated them and enabled them. That’s why we are where we are.”

‘The Last Person’

This is not the first time Mr. Barr has spoken out against another Trump presidency.

In May, while promoting his new book “One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General” in Cleveland, Mr. Barr said it would be a “tragedy” if President Trump won the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. But he added that he did not think that would be the case.

When asked by Fox News’s Geraldo Rivera at the event if he believed the former president was fit to hold office, Mr. Barr responded that the 45th president would be “the last person” who could execute and achieve the policies he promotes.

Despite Mr. Barr’s arguments, multiple recent polls show President Trump leading ahead of President Biden, with the election day 11 months away.

In the most recent poll by Morning Consult for Bloomberg News, President Donald Trump is leading President Joe Biden in seven key swing states by 5 percentage points.

Within the GOP, President Trump leads by a wide margin against all other candidates. A national Reuters and Ipsos poll released on Dec. 13 found that 61 percent of Republicans support President Trump.

Samantha Flom contributed to this report.