Bill Barr says Trump often suggested executing his rivals during heated White House outbursts

Bill Barr has claimed Donald Trump often suggested executing his political rivals during heated moments of his four-year tenure in the White House.

Former White House communications director Alyssa Farah Griffin told The View back in December that Mr Trump once called for a staff member to be put to death for leaking a story about the then-president going down to a bunker during Black Lives Matter protests in summer 2020.

Former Trump administration attorney general Mr Barr was asked about the claims during an interview on CNN last week.

“I remember him being very mad about that,” Mr Barr said on the matter.

“I actually don’t remember him saying ‘executing’ but I wouldn’t dispute it, you know… The president would lose his temper and say things like that. I doubt he would’ve actually carried it out.”

CNN’s Kaitlan Collins then asked whether the 45th president had made similarly extreme statements “on other occasions” during his presidency.

Mr Barr brushed off the comments saying that people would take Mr Trump “too literally” – before acknowledging that he would make such statements.

“He would say things similar to that on occasions to blow off steam. But I wouldn’t take them literally every time he did it,” Mr Barr said, adding: “At the end of the day, it wouldn’t be carried out and you could talk sense into him.”

“I don’t think the threat is there. The thing that I worry about president Trump is not that he’s going to become an autocrat and do those kinds of things,” he said.

“Having worked for him and seen him in action, I don’t think he would actually go and kill political rivals and things like that.”

The Independent has approached the Trump campaign for comment about Mr Barr’s remarks.

Back in September, Mr Trump