Bill Barr: Trump and I have our 'differences' but prosecution is 'unjust treatment' like Russiagate

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Barr: I've had disagreements with Trump but feel he's being unjustly prosecuted

Former Attorney General William Barr sounds off on Donald Trump's indictment on 'The Story.'

Former President Donald Trump and his Attorney General William Barr have not had a warm relationship since leaving the White House, but following the unsealing of the ex-president's indictment, Barr told Fox News it is clear his former boss is being treated "unjustly."

"As people know, I've had my differences with the president -- But in this situation, I think he's being unjustly treated just as he was by the Russiagate scam and the whole idea of the ‘Resistance’. So I feel bad that this has happened," Barr said Tuesday on "The Story."

"I don't think it's justified. And so at that very human level, I feel bad for him."

For folks who are wondering why Trump's newest attorney, Todd Blanche, would leave his prestigious Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft firm to join his defense team, Barr said it could be because the case is likely to be ruled in the ex-president's favor.

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Donald Trump is the first former president to be indicted on criminal charges. ( SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images))

"At the end of the day, it's going to be a winner," Barr said. "And at some point, someone who has not been infected by the craziness of our age is going to come in and straighten this thing out at some level of the judiciary, even if it goes into the federal appellate system. And since it all turns on a federal criminal statute, I think it would ultimately come to that."

"So at some point, some judge is going to stand up and do what's right here," he concluded – adding he hopes Acting New York State Supreme Court Justice Juan Manuel Merchan, who is adjudicating the case, will be the jurist to toss it.

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Trump has himself attacked Merchan ahead of Tuesday's arraignment, including after the justice's ruling to sentence Trump Organization CFO Allen Weisselberg to five months on Rikers Island for tax crimes. Merchan has also been assigned to adjudicate a separate case against Trump ally Stephen K. Bannon.

Earlier Tuesday, Trump called New York County "an unfair venue" for his case to be heard, claiming it voted "1% Republican" and calling for a change-of-venue to neighboring Richmond County, which contains New York City's reddest borough, Staten Island.

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Trump also accused New York County D.A. Alvin Bragg of illegally leaking the then-sealed 34-count indictment, which was revealed by Yahoo! News Monday evening.

The former president has since gained some international support in his case, with right-leaning Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban writing on Twitter that Trump should "keep fighting."

Barr also said he has yet to hear anything from Bragg or any litigator or critic that there is anything new or unanticipated in the 34-count indictment.

"Prosecution should always involve a measure of discretionary judgment where you weigh the public interest as a whole. And even before I became attorney general, the second time, I said in relation to Mueller's investigation that before we go off on a president or a sitting president or a former president, there should be clear evidence of a real crime," said Barr, whose first term as attorney general was under President George H.W. Bush.

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Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg speaks on Donald Trump arraignment April 4, 2023. (Fox News)

"This is a charging decision that affects our current national politics and judgment there, it seems to me. And prosecutorial discretion should command caution in this circumstance."

"And as I've said, this appears to be just a pathetically weak case that is, I think, demonstrably wrong on the law -- which explains why the Department of Justice -- even after I left office -- has never pursued this idea of a campaign-finance problem."

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Barr also suggested Merchan should weigh whether Bragg has "overreach[ed]" in a way that could not only affect the Democrat's reputation but his own on the bench.

"I hope he exercises his role as a judge and serves as a screening mechanism for this kind of overreach by a prosecutor," he said. "I'm not optimistic he will, but we'll see."