Bill Barr: I felt Putin would view Biden as weak
Barr reflects on the Russia-Ukraine war and his time as attorney general on 'Special Report'
Former Attorney General Bill Barr reacted to the war in Ukraine Monday on "Special Report," discussing his prediction that Putin would act on President Biden's "manifest weakness."
"I think what we're watching in Ukraine is just harrowing to watch," Barr said. "The big picture is that I think Russia is on the sharp decline."
Barr, who served as attorney general during the Trump administration, said it is difficult to see how the current war comes to an end while Putin is still leading Russia.
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Attorney General William Barr speaks during a news conference. (Michael Reynolds/Pool via AP)
"I think Russia has been substantially diminished no matter what happens. They're not 10 feet, they're obviously not 10 feet tall," he said.
Even before Russia invaded Ukraine, Barr said he "felt that that Putin would view Biden as weak and would try to take advantage of that by moving, by grabbing whatever he wanted."
Barr also called the Russia collusion investigation a "despicable dirty trick" by his and Trump's opponents that "hobbled" the first part of the administration, leading him to predict that Putin would "pursue Russian strategic goals more assertively."
The added consequence, he said, was that the probe and its continued media firestorm essentially froze relations between Russia and the United States, to the detriment of the U.S. as a whole.
Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke to female flight attendants in comments broadcast on state television on Saturday, March 5, 2022. (Reuters Video)
"When Biden won, I felt that there would be no incentive on the part of the Russians to try to use diplomacy to reach a stable modus vivendi and that they would just grab what they wanted under Biden," Barr said.
"And then when he essentially took America out of energy independence, increasing the leverage of Russia dramatically, I thought it was inevitable."
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