Bill Barr Rips ‘Deeply Flawed’ Ruling by Trump-Appointed Judge, Says the Law ‘Is Pretty Clear’

Former Attorney General Bill Barr blasted a ruling by a judge to appoint a special master in the case involving Donald Trump’s improper retention of government documents.

Last month, FBI agents executed a search warrant at the former president’s Mar-a-Lago residence where they found official government materials, some of which are classified.

On Monday, U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump in 2020, ruled that a special master must  review “the seized property for personal items and documents and potentially privileged material subject to claims of attorney-client and/or executive privilege.”

The ruling has been derided by legal experts. Appearing on Tuesday’s The Story with Martha MacCallum, Barr added his name to that list.

“The opinion, I think, was wrong and I think the government should appeal it,” he said. “It’s deeply flawed in a number of ways. I don’t think the appointment of a special master is going to hold up.”

Barr added that “the government has strong evidence of what it needs to determine whether the charges are appropriate, which is government documents were taken, classified information was taken and not handled appropriately.”

He stated, “There’s some evidence to suggest that they were deceived.”

In June, Trump’s legal team signed a sworn statement to the Department of Justice stating Trump has no remaining government material at his residence after the government retrieved official documents from Mar-a-Lago earlier this year. That statement turned out to be false, as the August raid showed.

Barr also addressed Trump’s claim that some of the documents seized are covered by executive privilege, and therefore the government should not be able to review them:

Let’s say a document has the DOD secretary recommendation on strikes against a hostile nation in retaliation for something. “We should bomb X.” That is potentially privileged if someone outside of the executive branch tried to compel its production, like Congress or a grand jury, but that’s not where we are. Number one, that document clearly is not the president’s. It clearly goes to the Archives.

Number two, the judge just acknowledged it can go to the intelligence committee to assess the damage. The reason that’s not a problem under privilege is because it’s not going outside the executive branch.

The question presented here is one she doesn’t even address, but it’s the only issue in dispute, which is, can a former president say that this document and executive privilege precludes executive branch agents who are looking into whether a crime was committed from reviewing those documents?

It’s too early to say that they’re going to try to put those documents before a grand jury. There’s no contemplation right now or proposal to put it outside the executive branch. So her decision is premature. And the dispute isn’t over whether this document is executive–potential executive privilege and this one isn’t. That’s not the dispute. The dispute is whether the president, even if it is executive privilege, can the president bar DOJ from reviewing the documents question? And the answer to that I think is clearly no.

Barr later concluded, “The law here I think is pretty clear that the Justice Department should be able to review these documents.”

Watch above via Fox News.