Trump Was Warned He'd Spend 'Rest of His Life' in Legal Peril: Bill Barr

Former President Donald Trump was previously warned that he'd spend the "rest of his life" facing legal issues if he continued to spread false claims about election fraud in regards to the 2020 presidential election, former U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr said Thursday.

"I also didn't like the way he was spouting the 'Big Lie.' I thought that was irresponsible, but he took it much further than even I expected or anyone expected," Barr said during an interview appearance with Fox News. "And during this time, he was being told by lawyers in the White House that if he kept on doing this, he would spend the rest of his life tangling with the criminal justice process and that's exactly what's happened. He shouldn't be surprised and no one else should be surprised."

Barr's comments come as Trump is currently facing several legal issues following two federal indictments by the Department of Justice's (DOJ) special counsel Jack Smith, including one for the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot and his alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election after losing to Joe Biden. The second indictment by Smith is related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents that were previously found at the former president's Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after he left the White House.

Meanwhile, Trump has pleaded not guilty in those two indictments during his arraignments in court and insists the charges against him are politically motivated as he runs for president in 2024.

Barr resigned from his post as Trump's attorney general in December 2020 shortly after the DOJ determined at the time that there was no evidence of widespread voter fraud in the 2020 election.

On Monday, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis announced an indictment against Trump and 18 others for their alleged attempts to overturn 2020 election results in Georgia. Trump and the 18 other defendants were accused of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Anyone found guilty of violating RICO in Georgia faces a minimum custodial sentence of five years, and a maximum of 20 years.

"The indictment alleges that rather than abide by Georgia's legal process for election challenges, the defendants engaged in a criminal racketeering enterprise to overturn Georgia's presidential election result," Willis said in a press conference following the indictment.

In January 2021, a phone call between Trump and Georgia's Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger was leaked, with the former president asking if the state could find over 11,000 votes in order for him to defeat Biden. Following the 2020 election, Trump then repeatedly claimed, without any evidence, that the results were rigged and stolen from him.

"Like Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, Deranged Jack Smith, and New York AG Letitia James, Fulton County, GA's radical Democrat District Attorney Fani Willis is a rabid partisan who is campaigning and fundraising on a platform of prosecuting President Trump through these bogus indictments," the Trump campaign said in a statement following the indictment. "The legal double-standard set against President Trump must end. Under the Crooked Biden Cartel, there are no rules for Democrats, while Republicans face criminal charges for exercising their First Amendment rights."

Newsweek reached out to Trump's spokesperson via email for comment.