Bill Barr Trashes Trump’s First Amendment Argument in Jan. 6 Case
“Free speech doesn’t give you the right to engage in a fraudulent conspiracy.”
CNN
Bill Barr expressed a damning view of Donald Trump’s attorney’s arguments that the latest indictment of the former president—this time in relation to his efforts to overturn the 2020 election—constituted an “attack on free speech.” “They’re not attacking his First Amendment right, he can say whatever he wants,” the former Trump administration attorney general told Kaitlan Collins in a CNN interview Wednesday. “He can even lie. He can even tell people that the election was stolen when he knew better. But that does not protect you from entering into a conspiracy. All conspiracies involve speech and all fraud involves speech, so you know, free speech doesn’t give you the right to engage in a fraudulent conspiracy.” Later, Barr said he believed “we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg” and that special counsel Jack Smith’s team may “have a lot more evidence” about Trump’s state of mind that could help prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump knew that the election had not been stolen through fraud.
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