Former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr, once one of the ex-president’s top defenders, appeared stunned and speechless Thursday afternoon when a Fox News host surprised him by asking why the U.S. Dept. of Justice is pursuing a criminal investigation against Trump over classified documents while he is running again for president.

“Why is this process happening so quickly in the middle of a presidential election?” Fox’s Martha MacCallum asked. She neglected to mention that Donald Trump reportedly announced his presidential campaign to avoid being charged.

Barr, who is on record stating he opposes Trump’s actions surrounding the hundreds of classified and top secret documents he likely unlawfully removed from the White House and refused to return, paused for several seconds before replying.

“Uh,” Barr finally replied, “This, this was a fairly simple case,” he said, appearing to defend DOJ.

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“The Mar-a-Lago case. This is a case that can be done relatively quickly, and that’s why I thought, it’s the main – because it’s a very limited question,” Barr explained, shifting gears. “It relates to, ah, one collection of documents and and why they weren’t given to the government once they were subpoenaed. And it’s a pretty simple case.”

Moving on, MacCallum asked, “And you believe that the charge will be obstruction, based on what you’ve said before?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Barr responded, seeming to not want to bet pinned down to an answer, “if I had to bet I think that that there’s going to be an indictment here on that basis, but it’s not going to be because he took the documents, or even had the documents for a while. I think it’s because they believe that he acted deceitfully once the government tried to get the documents back.”

On Tuesday, Barr spoke with CBS News to refute his ex-boss’s “witch hunt” claims, said the ex-president had “jerked” DOJ around over the hundreds of classified and top secret documents he refused to return, and added there was “no excuse” to do so.

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Watch Barr below or at this link.

Fox’s Martha MacCallum asks why the Trump classified documents case is “happening so quickly in the middle of a presidential election.”

Former Trump Attorney General Bill Barr: “This was a fairly simple case.” pic.twitter.com/GkhPvvZEAE

— The Recount (@therecount) June 8, 2023

An exasperated, high-profile House Republican from South Carolina on Thursday questioned the wisdom of anti-abortion legislation the GOP conference is pursuing next week, asking her colleagues, and more importantly, GOP leadership, “Why the hell are we doing this?” as the Democratic Minority Leader declares he wants to find “common ground” apart from the GOP’s extremists.

U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) (photo) posed the damning question of House GOP Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN), Politico reports, highlighting the rifts “McCarthy’s fractured leadership team” is facing.

“Behind closed doors on Wednesday, McCarthy’s No. 2 and No. 3 briefed about a dozen Republicans,” Politico explains, “mostly battleground-seat members — on their plan to take up two bills next week: Rep. Andrew Clyde’s (R-Ga.) bid to nix a Biden administration gun regulation and a separate proposal bill to strengthen limits on taxpayer funding for abortion.”

The meeting, Politico says, did not go well. It reportedly got even worse.

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“Things got more heated from there, the two Republicans added: Rep. Michelle Fischbach (R-Minn.) confronted Mace for taking to TV and blasting other Republicans for their positions on abortion. Mace responded that the party is losing the battle for public opinion on the issue, arguing that tacking further to the right would hurt the centrists who handed the GOP the majority.”

Around the same time as this was happening Thursday, U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, during his news conference, told reporters Democrats “stand ready to find common ground with the other side of the aisle if they can break from their extremists. The problem that seems to exist is the House Republican conference is captive to the most extreme wing of their party.”

.@RepJeffries: “The extremists and the House Republican Conference has once again taken control of the House floor and stopped us from doing the business of the American people. This is extraordinary.” pic.twitter.com/iQMrDnxtwb

— CSPAN (@cspan) June 8, 2023

Watch the video above or at this link.

A right-wing GOP lawmaker who has backed Donald Trump through both of his impeachments is sounding the alarm that the former president is becoming increasingly erratic which could put the 2024 general election at risk for his party.

According to a report from Politico, the closer Donald Trump gets to becoming the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nominee the more some GOP lawmakers are growing worried that not only will they lose their shot at taking back the White House, but he’ll take down-ticket GOP candidates down with him.

The report also notes that the battle between Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis is starting to turn off conservative voters and some are hoping that an alternative will rise from the squabble.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) was blunt about the GOP’s prospects as they stand today, telling reporters, “I’m worried about it,” and expressed fears that Trump will keep independent voters at a distance.

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With a wide array of candidates having just appeared over the past weekend in Iowa, Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA) claimed the infighting is turning voters — even Republicans — off.

“We’ll see if the two titans punching each other fires up the base, or if six months from now people are tired of both and ready for a third way,” Nunn explained before making tha blunt observation, “When you talk to Iowans, s–t-talking other candidates will not get you success. We don’t necessarily pick the winner, but we’re pretty good at smelling bulls–t.”

Kentucky Rep. Tom Massie (R), who has sided with DeSantis, is very worried about the possibility of Trump at the top of the ticket.

“I wish Trump were on Twitter. He’s in an echo chamber right now. And people don’t know how far he’s spun out from where he was,” he said in an interview. “The more visibility that we can help Trump get — when he attacks [his former White House press secretary] Kayleigh McEnany, for instance — the better.”

You can read more here.

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