Trump slams former AG Bill Barr, calls Jan 6 committee a ‘witch hunt,’ claims Antifa, BLM ‘got away with murder’

Democrats in Congress and left-wing media pundits have endeavored to hold Trump accountable for the actions of his supporters on January 6, 2021, when they staged a riot at the Capitol and disrupted the certification of Electoral College votes for incoming President Joe Biden.

In response to a question from Holt on the matter, Trump said "I was President of the United States and was asked to make a speech on January 6. I went to the site, made my speech and returned to the White House.

"Most importantly, however, I strongly suggested that 10,000 troops or our National Guard be brought to D.C., the Capitol, and Capitol building three days before January 6. Others in attendance at that meeting estimate the number was between 10,000 - 20,000 troops.

"The offer was relayed to Nancy Pelosi and the Mayor of D.C. They were not interested in having the troops in Washington because they didn't 'like the look.' If they had taken my offer, there would have been no 'January 6' as we know it. We would have had a minimum of 10,000 troops encircling the Capitol, and nobody would have gotten near it, or them."

Pelosi recently ordered fencing and National Guard troops to be around the Capitol while President Biden gave his State of the Union address.

Trump said that he had encouraged peaceful protest on that day, and slammed the January 6 committee, headed by Rep. Bennie Thompson, as a "Witch Hunt."

He wrote that Barr was a "big disappointment" as AG, that he was "afraid to act, and usually didn't." This as Barr is slated to release a memoir of his time as Attorney General called One Damn Thing After Another: Memoirs of an Attorney General.

The letter, obtained by Axios, read that Barr was more concerned with "being accepted by the corrupt Washington Media and Elite than serving the American people," or the Trump White House. Trump called him "slow" and "lethargic," saying that he "realized early on that he never had what it takes to make a great Attorney General."

"The Radical Left," Trump told Holt, "broke him just like a trainer breaks a horse."

Trump's complaints against Barr are not new, he has long contended that Barr's refusal to investigate his claims of election fraud and interference constituted a miscarriage of justice, and that new evidence points directly to this as fact.

Trump slammed Barr's work on the Mueller investigation, which he said "should have gone much faster," and he slams the forthcoming book, which he said "will be long, slow, and very boring," like Barr.

Barr's book shows, according to the Washington Post, that he wants to "be remembered as a truth-teller." For the Post, this is a laughable proposition. Apparently, it is absurd to Trump as well.

Trump attempted in the letter to stave off any praise or media attention that Barr would be seeking to promote the memoir, saying that media and public acceptance would not be deserved.

He addresses questions from Holt, including one "regarding the Department of Justice and the President of the United States," saying "When I saw that the Department of Justice was not doing their job, I have every legal right to ask them to do so, in accordance with the law and the Constitution. That has nothing to do with my personal legal interests.

"ANTIFA, BLM, and so many others have gotten away with, literally, murder where others have been in many cases, persecuted. It is not a fact that my campaign was spied on. This is treason that has now been confirmed by John Durham. Barr was unwilling, or unable to act in a timely fashion on this and other important matters."

Trump claims in the letter that "Despite the many crimes committed by the Biden family," he did "not push Barr to go after them," saying that he "thought it would be inappropriate" for him "to get personally involved."

Trump addressed another question from Holt, "regarding the events of June 2020," saying that Barr "didn't want to stand up to the Radical Left Democrats because he thought the repercussions to him personally, in the form of their threatened impeachment, would be too severe. In other words, Bill Barr was a coward!" He wrote.

His reasoning in dealing with the riots that began after the death of George Floyd in police custody in May 2020 and continued throughout the summer, going for more than 100 consecutive nights in Portland, Ore., was that these "were the responsibility of the Democrats" who were running the cities where the rioting was taking place. "I gave those Democrats the opportunity to properly take care of the various situations," Trump wrote.

"After a period of time, however, I would then bring in the National Guard or military," he said of his strategy, "when it became clear that the Democrats weren't able or willing to control the ridiculousness that was taking place."

Trump noted, however, that he "did get involved in Portland and Minneapolis," where things got particularly out of hand, "and was ready to get involved in Seattle," where activists had set up an "autonomous zone" stretching for six blocks in the downtown area of that city."

He told Holt that "when they found out I was sending in troops, the ANTIFA takeover of a portion of the city ended rapidly. The troops were ready to go in," he said.

Trump clarified a conversation he had with Barr in December 2020, which he said was misreported. He said that he didn't say "You must hate Trump," to Barr, but instead said, "If you didn't see corruption in the Election, of which so much has already been revealed... then you are not capable of being Attorney General."

Trump said he told Barr that "You don't have the energy or backbone to stand up to the Radical Left," and asked for Barr's resignation.

"In the long run," Trump concluded the letter, "the American people will win."