Bill Barr: A ‘Particularly Bad Idea’ for Trump to Testify, ‘He Lacks All Self-Control’

BARR: “I hope they will be. And, you know, as I’ve said repeatedly, I think the document case is the most serious case. I don’t think they went after those documents to get Trump, I think they actually wanted the documents back. And what’s at issue in that case is not the taking of the documents, it’s what he did after the government sought them and subpoenaed them and whether there was any obstruction. I think that’s the most serious one out there. And the other one, I think the January 6th one is a difficult case to make, and it also runs into First Amendment issues, you know, where are you going to draw the line between legitimate First Amendment activity protesting an election and actually conspiring to undo an election. So, that’s a difficult case to make. But, you know, I’m hopeful the department will approach it properly.”
BREAM: “I’ll ask you what I asked Jim Trusty as well. If the president was your client, would you put him on the stand? Because I got to imagine, in any of these cases, if it gets to trial, he’s going to want to defend himself.”
BARR: “Yeah, well, I mean, I’m not his lawyer. You know, generally, I think it’s a bad idea to go on the stand and I think it’s particularly bad idea for Trump, because he lacks all self-control and it’d be very difficult to prepare him and keep him testifying in a prudent fashion.”