Barr: I Thought Trump Was 'Detached From Reality'

AG was 'demoralized' by former president's embrace of conspiracy theories
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 13, 2022 1:02 PM CDT
Barr: I Thought Trump Was 'Detached From Reality'
The committee listens to a video clip of former Attorney General William Barr at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, June 13, 2022.   (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

One of the biggest lines in Day Two of the Jan. 6 committee hearings came in video testimony from former Attorney General William Barr, who said he thought then-President Donald Trump had become "detached from reality" as he continued to push election conspiracy theories despite having been assured that Joe Biden's win was legitimate. "I was somewhat demoralized because I thought, boy … he has become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff," Barr said, per the Washington Post. Barr said that when he explained "how crazy some of these allegations were, there was never an indication of interest in what the actual facts were."

Barr said he told Trump that the Justice Department " was not an extension of his legal team." He said Trump became "indignant" when told there was " zero basis" for arguing that Dominion Voting Systems had rigged its machines to give Biden the win, Axios reports. Barr also said that after he told the AP there was no evidence of widespread election fraud, Trump was as mad as he'd ever seen him. He said the then-president told him, "You must have said this because you hate Trump, you hate Trump.” (Earlier, Liz Cheney said Trump took election-night advice from an "apparently inebriated" Rudy Giuliani.)

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