Former President Donald Trump frequently talked of "things like" executing his enemies when he was in the White House, former Attorney General Bill Bar noted in a heated CNN interview Friday night.
Barr was responding to an incident in 2020 when former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin said Trump told her and Barr that an unknown White House leaker should be executed.
"I actually don't remember him saying 'executing,' but I wouldn't dispute it," Barr told CNN news host Kaitlin Collins. "The president would lose his temper and say things like that."
Barr added: "I doubt he would've actually carried it out," adding that by the end of the day such a threat "wouldn't be carried out and you could talk sense into him."
A stunned Collins emphasized that an unexecuted order doesn't eliminate the threat.
The former president's behavior is particularly relevant since Trump's attorneys have argued before the Supreme Court that Trump should be protected by absolute immunity during his presidency — both past and future.
Asked by Justice Sonia Sotomayor during the hearing earlier this week if such a scenario meant that Trump could then order a military assassination of a rival, Trump's attorny John Sauer responded: "It would depend on the hypothetical. What we can see that could well be an official act."
Despite Trump's threats about execution, Barr nevertheless told Collins that he sees President Joe Biden as a greater "threat to democracy" — though he also emphasized he doesn't believe either man should be president.
Collins pointed out that Trump attempted to "subvert the peaceful transfer of power" by overturning the presidential election. Barr conceded that was "shameful," but didn't change his opinion.
Barr has repeatedly bashed Trump in interviews almost since he stepped down as Trump's attorney general — but suddeny endorsed him for the presidency earlier this week.
Trump rewarded Barr after the endorsement by mocking him in a post on Truth Social as "weak, slow-moving, lethargic, gutless, and lazy."
Trump added: "Based on the fact that I greatly appreciate his wholehearted Endorsement, I am removing the word 'Lethargic' from my statement."
