In a new book, former Attorney General Bill Barr says former President Trump has shown “he has neither the temperament nor persuasive powers” of a leader and that the Republican Party should “look forward” to other candidates.
The former Attorney General also said: “We need leaders not only capable of fighting and ‘punching,’ but also persuading and attracting – leaders who can frame, and advocate for, an uplifting vision of what it means to share in American citizenship,” according to excerpts published by The Washington Post.
The book, titled “One Damn Thing After Another,” reportedly details the decaying of Barr and Trump’s relationship during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and following the 2020 election.
When Barr departed his post in December 2020, it appeared to be a relatively amicable departure, despite him having told the Associated Press that the Justice Department had not found evidence of widespread voter fraud.
In his resignation letter, Barr wrote in a complimentary fashion of Trump’s time in office. The emphasis of those feelings seem to have shifted over time in Barr, though he writes that he “admired the fact that the president forged forward with this positive agenda in the face of bitter, implacable attacks.”
Ultimately, Barr said that it was Trump’s “stolen election” claims that “led to the rioting on Capitol Hill,” but also said, “I did not think, from what I heard, that Trump ‘incited’ violence in the legal sense. … Incitement has a legal definition, and Trump’s statements would not fit that definition in any American court.”
