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Former President Donald Trump is denouncing ex-Attorney General Bill Barr after he dismissed 2020 election fraud conspiracy theories in testimony played during a hearing of the House January 6 committee.
Trump lashed out at Barr in a post to his Truth Social platform on Monday, hours after footage of Barr’s testimony was played during a public committee hearing. Barr testified that claims of massive fraud being responsible for President Joe Biden‘s victory were “without merit” and “completely bogus” before laughing while assessing the pro-Trump movie 2000 Mules, which purports to show that the election was compromised by a ballot-stuffing conspiracy.
“Former A.G. Bill Barr, a RINO if there ever was one, didn’t have the courage or stamina to go after voter fraud—Was afraid he was going to be impeached,” Trump wrote after Barr’s comments were aired. “NO GUTS, NO GLORY!!!”
During the testimony that played on Monday, Barr said he believed “the election was not stolen by fraud,” adding that he had not “seen anything since the election” to change his opinion, before bringing up 2000 Mules and laughing. Barr went on to say that he was “unimpressed with” the movie.
“I was holding my fire to see what the photographic evidence was,” Barr said. “The cell phone data is singularly unimpressive … Then when the movie came out, I think the photographic evidence in it is completely … lacking. It didn’t establish widespread, illegal harvesting.”
Conservative filmmaker Dinesh D’Souza, who directed 2000 Mules, hit back at Barr in a series of angry tweets on Monday, calling the former attorney general “ignorant” for rejecting the film’s premise and taking shots at him for being “overweight and largely immobile.”
Barr’s testimony also revealed that, shortly before he resigned from the Trump administration, he had become concerned that the former president continuing to claim that the election was “stolen” despite no credible supporting evidence indicated he had become “detached from reality.”
“There was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were,” said Barr. “Before the election, it was possible to talk sense to the president … After the election, he didn’t seem to be listening.”
A clip of Barr dismissing Trump’s claims of massive voter fraud in the 2020 election as “bullsh*t” also played during the committee’s first public hearing last Thursday, alongside testimony from the former president’s daughter Ivanka Trump saying that she “respected” Barr and had “accepted” his conclusion that the election result was legitimate.
Trump responded to the Thursday clips by rejecting his daughter’s testimony as “only trying to be respectful to Bill Barr,” who he said “sucked” as attorney general. When asked for his opinion on Trump’s reaction during an interview with Fox News host Neil Cavuto on Saturday, Barr laughed and suggested that he dismissed the former president after having “considered the source.”
Newsweek reached out to Barr’s attorney for comment.
