(The Hill) — Former Attorney General William Barr on Monday said it is “inconceivable” that he would not vote for the Republican nominee in the 2024 presidential election, but said he does not think former President Donald Trump should lead the ticket.
Asked by co-anchor Savannah Guthrie on NBC’s “Today” if he agrees with Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who has said Trump is not fit to serve and should never be near the Oval Office again, Barr did not give a direct answer, instead saying that he plans to support a different candidate for the GOP nomination.
“I certainly have made it clear, I don’t think he should be our nominee and I’m gonna support somebody else for the nomination,” Barr said.
Pressed by Guthrie on if he would support Trump should he receive the nod from the GOP, Barr said he could not imagine a scenario in which he did not support the Republican nominee. He said the progressive agenda is “the greatest threat” to the country.
“Because I believe that the greatest threat to the country is the progressive agenda being pushed by the Democratic Party, it’s inconceivable to me that I wouldn’t vote for the Republican nominee,” Barr said.
“So even if he lied about the election and threatened democracy as you write in your book, better than a Democrat,” Guthrie responded.
“It’s hard to project what the facts are gonna turn out to be three years hence, but as of now, it’s hard for me to conceive that I wouldn’t vote for the Republican nominee,” Barr added.
Barr served as attorney general during the Trump administration from February 2019 until his resignation in December 2020. He stepped down that month after breaking with Trump and announcing that the Department of Justice did not find any evidence of widespread voter fraud from the 2020 presidential election that would have altered the results of the race.
He also served as attorney general under former President Georg H.W. Bush.
Barr’s conversation with Guthrie — his first live interview since resigning from his post in the Trump administration — came the day before his book, “One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General,” is set to publish.
Trump has not yet announced if he will run for reelection in 2024, but he told Fox News’s Sean Hannity over the summer that he has made a decision. During a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month, Trump appeared to suggest that another bid for the White House remains a possibility.
