On Tuesday, during an appearance on Fox News, former attorney General William Barr claimed U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon made a “deeply flawed” decision by granting former President Donald Trump’s request for a special master.
Trump had requested a federal master be appointed to review the documents seized from his Mar-a-Lago property and the DOJ’s investigation of the documents be stopped until the review is complete.
On Monday (September 5), Cannon granted both requests.
Following the ruling, Barr told Fox News host Martha McCallum, that he didn’t believe the appointment of a special master would change the DOJ’s case against Trump.
Acknowledging that the decision could delay the process by several months, Barr said, “The opinion was wrong, and I think the government should appeal it.”
The former Attorney General continued, stating the decision was “deeply flawed in a number of ways” but expressed doubt the appointment would “hold up, but even if it does, I don’t see it fundamentally changing the trajectory.”
Barr served as Trump’s Attorney General until he resigned in December 2020. Since then, Barr has been at the receiving end of Trump’s backlash because of statements the former AG made about the lack of substantial evidence of widespread election fraud.
Barr is among a handful of conservatives who’ve publicly dissented since the ruling, as most of Trump’s allies have lauded Cannon’s ruling as a win.
But despite his disagreements with Trump, Barr hoped that the Department of Justice wouldn’t prosecute the former President.
“Even if they can technically make the case, there’s another step, which is, prudentially, do they want to do it?” adding, “I hope they don’t do it.”
