- Former Attorney General Bill Barr said Trump has been "fading for months" during an interview with PBS.
- "He didn't do what the whole country hoped," Barr said.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr said that Donald Trump "has been fading for months," adding that the former president's attitude kept him from securing a second term.
"I think he has been fading for months now, and the recent midterm elections, I think have really popped his balloon," Barr said during an interview with PBS' "Firing Line," which aired on Friday.
PBS' Margaret Hoover also asked Barr about his reaction to Trump announcing that he was running for office again.
"I made it clear in my book over a year ago that I didn't think he was the right person to lead either the Republican Party or the country forward, and I would hope that he stepped down, so I was disappointed that he announced," Barr said.
Earlier this week, Trump announced he's taking another shot at the Oval Office, stating in his speech: "America's comeback starts right now."
"So from now until Election Day in 2024 ... I will fight like no one who has ever fought before," he added.
It comes amid many legal woes, including storing sensitive documents at Mar-a-Lago and the ongoing House committee probe into the Capitol riot. The committee aired testimony from Barr over the summer in which he bluntly discussed how he advised the president that he lost the 2020 presidential election and that there was no evidence of fraud in the contest.
Barr, who resigned from Trump's administration in 2020, said that if Trump "dialed back his pugnacity and nastiness a little bit," he would have won the presidency against now-President Joe Biden.
"He failed. He didn't do what the whole country hoped, that he would rise to the occasion and rise to the office. He didn't do that. So he's had his chance," Barr continued.
"He obviously does not have the qualities necessary to unite the party, which is the first step on the road back, and he should stand aside."