Former Attorney General Bill Barr told CNN on Wednesday the Colorado Supreme Court ruling that bans Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 ballot will backfire.
“I think this case is legally wrong and untenable,” Barr told CNN anchor Jake Tapper.
“This kind of action of stretching the law, taking these hyper-aggressive positions to try to knock Trump out of the race, are counterproductive. They backfire,” he predicted. “He feeds on grievance just like a fire feeds on oxygen. This is going to end up as a grievance that helps him.”
The legal scholarship of the decision notwithstanding, Barr highlighted what he believes is the “fatal” flaw of the court’s ruling.
“The core problem here is the denial of due process — to deprive somebody of the right to hold public office requires due process,” he said. “This was denied due process. It was a five-day hearing. There was no jury; it was before the judge. They were not able to subpoena witnesses and compel the attendance of witnesses. They relied on the Jan. 6 committee hearings, which is mostly hearsay. There was no right to cross-examine during those hearings, and so forth.”
Barr, moreover, predicted the U.S. Supreme Court will quickly grant an appeal and rule in Trump’s favor.
Polling expert Frank Luntz agreed that the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision will only help Trump with voters.
“It’s going to be exactly what the indictments did. It’s going to be exactly what the criticisms have done,” Luntz predicted. “Donald Trump thrives on negativity. He thrives on legal systems that try to hold him accountable. And I’m convinced that his polling numbers are going to go up.
“I would say to the judges, as I said to the Justice Department, ‘You’re actually making it more likely that Donald Trump is elected next November by how you are pursuing this. You don’t explain the decisions. You don’t put things in context.’ And so Trump climbs and climbs and climbs. And right now he’s beating Joe Biden clearly nationwide.”
