Attorney General William Barr suggested recently that the investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 U.S. election was similar to the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln.

During an interview that aired Sunday on Fox News, host Maria Bartiromo posed the question to Barr.

"A source said to me a couple of years ago, speaking of the Russia collusion story, that this was the closest the United States ever came to a coup to take down a president since the assassination of Lincoln," Bartiromo told Barr. "Is that an appropriate statement?"

Barr agreed: "In this sense, I think it is the closest we have come to an organized effort to push a president out of office."

"And it continues," Bartiromo volunteered.

"I'm not reaching a judgement to what the motivations there were," Barr insisted.