Attorney General Bill Barr told Donald Trump that his claims of election fraud were “crazy,” newly released prosecution documents show.
Judge Tanya Chutkan unsealed nearly 2,000 pages of evidence in the former president’s election fraud case on Friday despite impassioned pleading from Trump’s lawyers that it could damage his presidential campaign.
The testimony forms part of the evidence in Trump’s election fraud case, suggesting that Barr may be called a witness, making him the first attorney general to testify against his president.
The prosecution documents show that at a meeting on November 23, 2020, Barr, who was then Trump’s attorney general, told the president that his claims that Dominion voting machines were rigged were false.
Barr said he didn’t go through all of Trump’s claims but tried to focus on some of them.
“The one I specifically remember addressing was – were the Dominion machines,” Barr told Representative Liz Cheney during a June 2022 meeting with the January 6 Committee.
“And I made the point that it was crazy for them to be wasting their time on this because they had been easily checked because they’re tabulation machines, and all you have to do is compare the tabulation with the ballots, and I just thought it was crazy.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s attorney for comment via email on Friday.
Former President Donald Trump at a town hall event in Oaks, Pennsylvania, on October 14. A judge has unsealed new evidence in Trump’s election fraud case in Washington, D.C.
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Trump didn’t listen to Barr’s advice about the Dominion machines. He and his allies continued to create a false narrative that Dominion was fixing the election for Joe Biden.
The false allegations have led to multibillion-dollar lawsuits against key Trump allies. Fox News settled a Dominion lawsuit for nearly $800 million, while Dominion has outstanding claims against former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, businessman Mike Lindell and others.
In a filing on Thursday, Trump’s lawyers warned release of the new evidence could also endanger potential witnesses, “especially in light of the extraordinary media coverage of this case and the Presidential election that is less than 3 weeks away—and also irreparably harm President Trump.”
They also complain that Vice President Kamala Harris has been using the released evidence in YouTube ads for her presidential campaign.
“The incumbent Vice President—whose administration the Special Counsel serves—also began featuring the Special Counsel’s brief in political advertisements for the 2024 Presidential Election. Kamala Harris, YouTube (Oct. 6, 2024),” the filing states.
On October 2, Chutkan unsealed a 165-page evidence brief in the case. That document made headlines around the world and contained fresh information about Trump’s alleged activities during the January 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.
It included his alleged indifference to the fate of then-Vice President Mike Pence as pro-Trump rioters hunted for him in the Capitol.
The document showed that Trump had tried to get support for a flawed report into alleged voter machine fraud in Michigan. The chairwoman of the Republican National Committee refused to publicize the report and told Trump the report was “f****** nuts.”
On Friday, Chutkan unsealed a substantial appendix to the 165-page evidence brief. That appendix has never been seen by the public and contains further allegations against the former president.
Trump is accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempting to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights in connection with an alleged pressure campaign on state officials to reverse the 2020 election results.
Trump has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him and repeatedly said he is the victim of a political witch hunt. He has accused Smith of attempting to interfere in the 2024 presidential election by prosecuting him.
