Barr claims that Trump has no "legitimate reason" to possess classified documents.
“No, I can’t think of a legitimate reason why they could be taken out of government, away from the government, if they are classified,” Barr said in an interview with Fox News that aired Friday.
a move the former president said was improper and politically motivated.
Barr stated on Friday that while "people say this was unprecedented," it was also unprecedented for the president to place all of this classified information in a country club.
Barr also rejected the justification put forth by Trump and his allies that the previous president had completely declassified the documents.
“If in fact he sort of stood over scores of boxes, not really knowing what was in them, and said, ‘I hereby declassify everything in here,’ that would be such an abuse and show such recklessness that it’s almost worse than taking the documents,” Barr said.
Barr also said the government had gone to extraordinary lengths to work cooperatively with Trump’s team before entering his Florida home.
“And so,” Barr asked rhetorically, “how long do they wait?”