Former Attorney General William Barr said he would not advise Donald Trump to attempt to defend himself at trial because the former president “lacks all self-control.”
“I’m not his lawyer. Generally, I think it’s a bad idea to go on the stand, and I think it’s a particularly bad idea for Trump because he lacks all self-control, and it would be very difficult to prepare him and keep him testifying in a prudent fashion,” Barr replied.
Trump was indicted last week for his role in a 2016 hush money payment to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who claims she had an affair with him a decade earlier. Daniels was paid $130,000 in exchange for her silence about the affair in the days before the 2016 election.
Barr was a longtime ally of Trump’s, but he became more publicly critical of the former president following the 2020 election, after which he has said Trump became “detached from reality.”
However, in Sunday’s interview, Barr still characterized the Manhattan DA’s case against Trump as politically motivated, aligning with rhetoric from Trump and his backers.