Former Attorney General Bill Barr said Thursday on Barry Weiss’ “Honest” podcast that he’s tired of the “continual pandering” to right-wingers angered by the FBI over the Mar-a-Lago raid.
Barr has defended the Justice Department and the FBI’s handling of their ongoing investigation into former President Donald Trump’s alleged storage of government documents at his Florida residence.
“A lot of the attacks on the FBI have gone too far,” Barr said.
Weiss asked: “So what do you say to conservatives who say ‘why should we trust these agencies to prosecute people—say, who protested on Jan. 6 or state agents went after a president they clearly despise? Why do we? To trust them again? You still give them the benefit of doubt, but many others in your party don’t.”
“Well, I think, in terms of the extent to which the FBI has been abused, the Russia affair is a decision made by senior FBI officials,” Barr said. “I don’t think Chris Wray is that type of leader, and I don’t think Chris The people around Wray were that type of leaders. I thought there was a problem with the FBI, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t Chris Ray. Ray would wake up and say, ‘You know, ‘How do I get the FBI’ Weights go around meddling in the political process. Quite the opposite. I think he’s very cautious about that.”
He continued, “You know, I’m tired of what comes from the right is constantly pandering to anger and people’s frustrations. And picking and picking at that sore spot without trying to steer those feelings in a constructive direction. In me It appears that Ronald Reagan was a great populist, not because he followed the frustrated instincts and anger of many who supported him, but because he guided and was constructive about it.”
Barr added: “So I always say, you know, what are the options? We have these institutions that need to be reformed. The first step is to win elections with a decisive majority that will enable you to implement plans and deal with some of these issues and address them. They. It’s not done by throwing fuel at the fire of anger on one side of the equation and doing the same on their side on the other side. This leads to a deadlock. And I don’t see any productive results. I Think we should basically try to convince people – I think they’re out there.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
