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.
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.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
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.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.
-
Political cartoons for January 6Cartoons Tuesday’s political cartoons include wrongful deportation, a monster under the surface, and more
-
Why don’t humans hibernate?The Explainer The prospect of deep space travel is reigniting interest in the possibility of human hibernation
-
Would Europe defend Greenland from US aggression?Today’s Big Question ‘Mildness’ of EU pushback against Trump provocation ‘illustrates the bind Europe finds itself in’
-
Venezuela’s Trump-shaped power vacuumIN THE SPOTLIGHT The American abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has thrust South America’s biggest oil-producing state into uncharted geopolitical waters
-
Trump says US ‘in charge’ of Venezuela after Maduro grabSpeed Read The American president claims the US will ‘run’ Venezuela for an unspecified amount of time, contradicting a statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio
-
‘Let 2026 be a year of reckoning’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Jack Smith: Trump ‘caused’ Jan. 6 riotSpeed Read
-
Wave of cancellations prompts Kennedy Center turmoilIN THE SPOTLIGHT Accusations and allegations fly as artists begin backing off their regularly scheduled appearances
-
Trump considers giving Ukraine a security guaranteeTalking Points Zelenskyy says it is a requirement for peace. Will Putin go along?
-
Why is Trump’s alleged strike on Venezuela shrouded in so much secrecy?TODAY'S BIG QUESTION Trump’s comments have raised more questions than answers about what his administration is doing in the Southern Hemisphere
-
Vance’s ‘next move will reveal whether the conservative movement can move past Trump’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
