Bill Barr laces into Manhattan DA over Trump indictment: 'It's the epitome of the abuse of prosecutorial power'

• Former AG Bill Barr reacted to the Trump indictment during an interview with Fox News on Friday.
• Barr called the move "an abomination" and "epitome of the abuse of prosecutorial power."

Bill Barr, an ex-attorney general under ex-President Donald Trump, tore into the Manhattan district attorney's office on Friday, a day after a grand jury indicted the former president.

"Obviously, we don't have the indictment, so there's a little bit of speculation involved," Barr said during an interview on Fox News' "Kudlow." "But based on the news reports, if they're accurate, this is an abomination."

Barr's comments come after a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump on Thursday in connection to the district attorney's investigation into an alleged hush money payment made to porn star Stormy Daniels prior to the 2016 presidential election. It's an unprecedented move that solidifies him as the first ex-president to ever be criminally charged.

"The Democrats have lied, cheated and stolen in their obsession with trying to 'Get Trump,' but now they've done the unthinkable indicting a completely innocent person in an act of blatant Election Interference," Trump said in a statement in response to the news.

His attorney, Joe Tacopina, told Insider that Trump is poised to turn himself in next week. The details of the indictment remain sealed.

During his appearance on Fox News, Barr blasted the Manhattan district attorney's office, calling it "the epitome of the abuse of prosecutorial power."

"They are going after the man, not a crime, and the legal theory, frankly, is pathetically weak," he said. "The case is held together by chicken wire, paper clips, and rubber bands. It's a lousy case. And it's a shameful episode in our history where this local prosecutor is trying to affect the political process by bringing this case."