Rudy Giuliani: Barr ‘treacherous’ for saying election fraud rhetoric precipitated Capitol riots

President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani called former Attorney General William P. Barr’s comments “treacherous” for connecting the claims of election fraud told to a crowd of pro-Trump supporters to the storming of the U.S. Capitol moments later.

Mr. Barr, who resigned last month from his role atop the U.S. Department of Justice, said in an interview that recent claims about purported election fraud “precipitated the riots” on Capitol Hill on Jan. 6.

“It was treacherous what he just did,” Mr. Giuliani reacted to Mr. Barr’s comment afterward while appearing on a podcast hosted by Steve Bannon, Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist.

“I mean, first of all, he has no basis for it,” Mr. Giuliani, 76, said about Mr. Barr on the “War Room: Pandemic” podcast. “He was gone in the sense of being able to investigate any of the facts.”

Mr. Giuliani proceeded to make several unsubstantiated claims about the attack on the Capitol, such as that the death of a Trump supporter fatally shot by police was “orchestrated by Antifa.”

“This was going to be a peaceful protest, surely. Nothing more than that. And it was hijacked by Antifa and two other groups and turned into a violent action,” Mr. Giuliani said.

The FBI said in the aftermath of the insurrection that it had no evidence of any involvement by members of Antifa, short for anti-fascist, a left-wing movement that Mr. Giuliani has blamed for the attack.

Multiple right-wing activists and Trump supporters are plentiful among the scores of people currently facing charges related to the attack at the Capitol.

The interview with Mr. Barr, 70, was conducted by ITV News, which billed it as the former attorney general’s first since the Capitol was seized.

Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Trump have been among the loudest proponents of unproven claims and conspiracy theories that alleged the election won by President-elect Joseph R. Biden was rigged or stolen.

Indeed, Mr. Giuliani and Mr. Trump repeated those claims while addressing thousands of supporters of the president who gathered near the White House shortly before the Capitol was stormed.

Five people were killed during the attack, including Capitol Police Officer Brian D. Sicknick. The House of Representatives impeached Mr. Trump the next week for inciting an insurrection.