Barr talks Trump, the Big Lie, and 2000 Mules during 2nd Jan. 6 hearing

Much of the Jan. 6 select committee's second public hearing followed the testimony of former Attorney General William Barr, who testified that he grew worried former President Donald Trump had become "detached from reality" in the aftermath of the 2020 race.

"He's become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff," Barr said in a video played during the hearing, referring to the former president's claims of widespread voter and election fraud. Trump never gave any "indication of interest in what the actual facts were," Barr added.

YouTube

Watch On

The former attorney general said he found the allegations Trump had embraced to be "complete nonsense," and "crazy stuff," and he even had a slight chuckle while discussing conservative commentator Dinesh D'Souza's film 2000 Mules, which purports to prove claims of widespread voter fraud in the last election.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Join more than 350,000 subscribers and keep yourself informed with a selection of The Week’s most interesting, enlightening and entertaining stories - plus daily puzzles.

Sign up

YouTube

Watch On

Barr said the film's logic, which relies on cellphone geolocation data, is "singularly unimpressive" and "indefensible."

"My opinion then and my opinion now is that the election was not stolen by fraud, and I haven't seen anything since the election that changes my mind on that, including the 2000 Mules movie," Barr told panel investigators.

Additionally, Barr called a report that Trump relied on to back his bid to remain in power "amateurish." Prepared by the obscure Allied Security Operations Group, the report alleged to have found evidence of widespread vote manipulation inside Dominion Voting Systems machines. The report was almost immediately debunked, but Trump still bought into it, Barr said.

Notably, Barr has recently said he would probably vote for Trump in 2024 if he were the Republican nominee.