Former Attorney General Bill Barr warned then-President Trump that he would lose in 2024 because suburban voters think he's an 'a**hole' and don't care about his deep state 'grievances' in a blunt, profanity-laced appeal to his ex-boss, according to a new book.
'This is not a base election. Your base is critical, and you'll get it out,' Barr told Trump in the Oval Office, according to an excerpt from 'Peril' obtained by Business Insider released Friday.
But he warned Trump that he needed to widen his appeal.
'There are a lot of people out there, Independents and Republicans in the suburbs of the critical states that think you're an a**hole. They think you act like an a**hole and you got to, you got to start taking that into account.'
At the time the coronavirus pandemic was breaking daily records and hospitals across the country struggled.
But in the weeks before the election Trump was focused on battling the media, who he accused of playing up the pandemic to sabotage his campaign.
At the same time he was still touting Barr-appointed investigator John Durham's probe into the origins of the Russia investigation that Trump claims was the work of 'deep state' actors.
Former Attorney General Bill Barr allegedly told then-President Trump ahead of the 2020 election that he would lose if he didn't take into account the fact that suburban voters think he's an 'a**hole,' new book 'Peril' claims
The probe produced an indictment on Thursday but hasn't found wrongdoing among senior FBI and DOJ staff.
Barr suggested Trump turn his attention to the health crisis at hand, 'not all this other s**t, not every grievance you have.'
Republicans simply 'don't give a s**t,' he told him, according to the book.
'Your base cares about seeing [James Comey] and the rest of those guys held accountable, but these other people don't,' Barr said.
