- Trump called Bill Barr "slow, lethargic" and "a disappointment" in a letter to NBC's Lester Holt.
- Barr, in his forthcoming tell-all memoir, is sharply critical of Trump.
- "They broke him just like a trainer breaks a horse," Trump said of Barr in response.
Former President Donald Trump blasted his Attorney General Bill Barr as "slow, lethargic" and a "big disappointment" in a grievance-filled letter to Lester Holt, in which he also responded to questions from the NBC Nightly News host.
"He was slow, lethargic, and I realized early on that he never had what it takes to make a great Attorney General," Trump wrote of Barr in the lengthy letter, which was dated March 2 and obtained by Axios. "When the Radical Left Democrats threatened to Hold him in contempt and even worse, Impeach him, he became virtually worthless to Law and Order and Election Integrity. They broke him just like a trainer breaks a horse."
Trump's response followed Barr's hour-long sitdown interview with Holt as part of the press tour surrounding his forthcoming memoir, "One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General." In the book, Barr says the former president went "off the rails," and recounts falling out with Trump over the 2020 election, which led to Barr's resignation.
Trump, for his part, repeated well-trodden complaints in the letter. He criticized Barr for not sufficiently prosecuting Black Lives Matter and "ANTIFA" protesters and rioters in summer 2020 (even though hundreds were charged and convicted), doubled down on the misleading claim that his 2016 campaign was "spied on," pushed the lie that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him, and downplayed his role in the violent Capitol riot on January 6, 2021.
In particular, Trump is upset at Barr for categorically rejecting the notion that the 2020 election was stolen, and for not prosecuting the nonexistent voter and election fraud that Trump blames for his election loss.
"Barr's lack of energy, drive, and curiosity led me to say things to him that should have never even been necessary—but he was so lazy and cowardly, he just never quite understood what was going on," Trump wrote.
Trump also blamed Barr for the slow pace of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which began in May 2017, nearly two years before Barr was confirmed as attorney general. Mueller released his report in April 2019.
"Bill Barr was a big disappointment to me as Attorney General, he was afraid to act, and usually didn't," Trump wrote to Holt.
"I would imagine that if the book is anything like him, it will be long, slow, and very boring," Trump added. "I made many great appointments during my Administration, and we accomplished more than most Administrations could even dream of, but Bill Barr was not one of my better picks. He crumbled under the pressure, and bowed to the Radical Left—And that is not acceptable."
In his book, Barr says Trump told him "you must hate Trump" after Barr contradicted the former president's claims of widespread fraud affecting the 2020 election.
"This is killing me — killing me. This is pulling the rug right out from under me," Barr recalls Trump saying. "He stopped for a moment and then said, 'You must hate Trump. You would only do this if you hate Trump.'"
Trump denied making the remark in his letter to Holt, calling it "incorrect and a total fabrication by Bill Barr."
"Rather, I said 'If you didn't see corruption in the Election, of which so much has already been revealed (and massive amounts up until this date), than you are not capable of being Attorney General," Trump wrote.