Bill Barr: Is attempted autogolpe even a crime?

Trump’s falanginst estranged consigliere Bill Barr is voting for Trump, because uncle Joe Brandon is the real threat to democracy, because, um, whoops, look at the time, need to work on that brief about how the Constitution requires the EPA to allow Exxon to pave over Lake Tahoe:

Former Attorney General Bill Barr, who previously said that Donald Trump shouldn’t be near the Oval Office, told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins Friday that he would vote for the former president over President Joe Biden in the 2024 election.

“I think that Biden is unfit for office,” Barr said on “The Source” in a wide-ranging interview. “I think Trump would do less damage than Biden, and I think all this stuff about a threat to democracy – I think the real threat to democracy is the progressive movement and the Biden administration.”

Collins pressed Barr – who has been highly critical of his former boss – “Just to be clear, you’re voting for someone who you believe tried to subvert the peaceful transfer of power, that can’t even achieve his own policies, that lied about the election even after his attorney general told him that the election wasn’t stolen … you’re going to vote for someone who is facing 88 criminal counts?”

Barr began, “Look, the 88 criminal counts, a lot of those are-“

“Even if ten of them are accurate?” Collins interjected.

“The answer to the question is yes,” Barr countered. “I’m supporting the Republican ticket,” he said.

[…]

Barr was more critical of Trump after he was indicted in the federal election subversion case last year. Speaking to Collins in August, the former attorney general described Trump’s alleged actions as detailed in the indictment as “nauseating” and “despicable,” adding “someone who engaged in that kind of bullying about a process that is fundamental to our system and to our self-government shouldn’t be anywhere near the Oval Office.”

Asked by Collins on Friday whether the Biden administration’s actions have been worse than his former boss’ attempts to disrupt the transfer of power following the 2020 election, Barr downplayed Trump’s efforts, responding, “Did he succeed?”

“Do they give the Nobel Prize for attempted chemistry?”

You can see how the Republican legal hivemind has settled in the proposition that prosecuting Donald Trump for the many crimes he committed in and/or our of office would have a chilling effect on the ability of future [Republican] presidents to commit crimes, so what are you gonna do, and by the way Lock Her Up!