Steve Bannon Threatens Bill Barr Will Be Put on Trial If GOP Takes Power

Right-wing strategist Steve Bannon floated the possibility that former U.S. Attorney General William Barr could face trial if Republicans return to power, urging the staunch conservative to "preserve evidence."

Bannon served as the chief executive of former President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign and went on to work as a chief strategist in his White House. During his War Room podcast on Wednesday, the Trump loyalist blasted Barr, who was the former president's attorney general, and his new memoir entitled One Damn Thing After Another, which was released in March.

Although Barr was widely viewed as one of Trump's most loyal Cabinet officials during his tenure serving under the former president, he has drawn substantial right-wing backlash for repeatedly pointing out that there is "no evidence" to support claims of widespread fraud surrounding President Joe Biden's 2020 election win. Barr resigned as attorney general in mid-December 2020, just over a month before the end of Trump's White House term.

The show notes for War Room's Wednesday episode explained: "Bannon concludes that Barr's book will be used as evidence against him in a trial after the GOP takes back the White House." During the episode, Bannon described Barr's memoir as "shocking," knocking the former attorney general for acting like "some big hero."

"Dude, you are a wimp and a loser," the podcaster said. "And I gotta tell you, that books going to be used as evidence against you."

Later in the segment, Bannon slammed Barr for "the lies he tells about election fraud, the lies he tells about misleading President Trump."

"I would tell to Bill Barr, 'Preserve your documents, preserve your documents, OK?'" he said.

Trump has criticized Barr publicly, calling him "weak" and "ineffective" in a March statement.

"Former Attorney General Bill Barr wouldn't know voter fraud if it was staring him in the face—and it was," the former president claimed. "The fact is, he was weak, ineffective, and totally scared of being impeached, which the Democrats were constantly threatening to do. They 'broke' him."

While some Democrats did call for Barr's impeachment, a serious effort to do so never moved forward or appeared to have enough support to succeed. Even if an impeachment had materialized and succeeded in the House, the former attorney general would have all but certainly been acquitted in the Senate, which was controlled by Republicans during the entirety of Trump's presidency.

Trump and many of his allies continue to insist that the 2020 election was "rigged" or "stolen," despite a lack of proof corroborating the extraordinary allegation. Barr said publicly in December 2020 that there was "no evidence" to back the claims after he had the Justice Department investigate. Barr wrote in his memoir that he told the former president directly to his face that the allegations were "bulls**t." Other prominent Republicans and former Trump administration have made similar public assessments.

More than 60 election challenge lawsuits brought by Trump and his supporters in the aftermath of the 2020 election failed in state and federal courts. Even judges appointed by Trump and other Republicans consistently dismissed the legal challenges. Meanwhile, audits and recounts across the country—including in areas where the election was overseen by pro-Trump conservatives—have consistently reaffirmed Biden's win.

Bannon was arrested and charged by the Justice Department in August 2020 for alleged fraud connected to a crowdfunding campaign in support of Trump's long-touted border wall. Barr was serving as attorney general at the time. Trump later pardoned Bannon on the last day of his presidency.

Newsweek attempted to contact Barr for comment and contacted Trump's press office for comment.