Bill Barr says Trump 2020 election case does not run ‘afoul’ of First Amendment

Former Attorney General Bill Barr pushed back on former President Trump’s legal argument against his most recent indictment, saying that the 2020 election case does not run “afoul of the First Amendment.”

Barr told host Major Garrett on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that while the special counsel Jack Smith’s latest indictment against Trump is a “challenging” case, it is also “legitimate.” He emphasized that Smith’s case is not based on what Trump was constantly saying after the election, but was based on other elements that amount to conspiring.

“This is not a question of what his subjective idea was as to whether he won or lost,” Barr said. “They’re saying what you were saying consistently, the stuff you were spouting, you knew was wrong. But it’s not— if that was all it was about, I would be concerned on First Amendment front, but they go beyond that.”

Trump was indicted last week on four federal charges stemming from his alleged efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election. Barr said that because the indictment relies on other evidence, like Trump’s attempt to orchestrate a scheme of fraudulent electoral college votes, it does not infringe on the First Amendment.

“But then pressuring the Vice President to use that as a pretext to adopt the Trump votes, and reject the Biden votes, or even to delay it, it really doesn’t matter whether it’s to delay it, or to adopt it, or to send it to the House of Representatives,” he said.

“You have to remember, a conspiracy crime is completed at the time it’s agreed to and the first steps are taken,” Barr added.