The Colorado Supreme Court's disqualification of Donald Trump from the ballot is "legally untenable" and bound to get "slapped down" on appeal, former attorney general Bill Barr warned CNN. 

Barr prefaced his remarks by stating, "As you know, I strongly oppose Donald Trump for the Republican nomination."

The former AG warned that removing Trump from the ballot will simply play to Trump's advantage by validating his "grievances" about being the target of a witch hunt.

"I think this kind of action of stretching the law and taking these hyper-aggressive missions to knock Trump out of the race are counterproductive. They backfire, as you know. He feeds on grievance just like a fire feeds on oxygen," he said.

Trump denied due process

Barr said there was no due process and the court relied on the findings of the one-sided January 6th committee to find Trump liable for "insurrection."

The 4-3 decision split the Colorado Supreme Court down the middle, with the dissent blasting the ruling as a "procedural Frankenstein."

While Democrats have hailed the ruling as a win for "democracy," Barr said the court skipped over the core issues - was there an insurrection, and what was Trump's role?

"For insurrection, did the public disturbance rise to the level of insurrection, what was the role of the individual? What is engagement? Did they do something to break your oath of office? Those are complicated facts, and this was denied due process. It was a five-day hearing. There was no jury," he said.

Trump and Barr had a dramatic falling out after the 2020 election, but even Barr can see that the Colorado Supreme Court's decision is totally extreme - and illegal.

He predicted the United States Supreme Court will swiftly slap down the ruling - and he is hoping for that outcome.

“I think if they take it up, they’re going to slap it down quickly. I hope they do take it up quickly and slap it down," he said.

Ruling could unleash "chaos"

Trump's defenders note that Trump was never convicted of the crime of insurrection - let alone charged with it.

Barr said that Jack Smith's 2020 election trial could shed light on Trump's state of mind, but it would be difficult to hold Trump liable for "insurrection" based on the facts.

"I haven't seen the evidence that I think would support that charge," he said.

Many Democrats have celebrated the decision, while hinting at further efforts in pivotal swing states like Michigan.

Many fear the effort - if not stopped - could destabilize the American political system.

"Now every state is going to make their own rules on this?......Everyone does a different thing, and knocks national candidates off ballots? It'll be chaos," Barr said.