Donald Trump choreographed the rollout of the Mueller report by placing his Roy Cohenesque attorney general, William Barr, in front of the cameras. Although POTUS has had the report for days and perhaps weeks, Barr refused to let Congress and/or the press see it until well after Mueller’s public relations brief. Unfortunately, Barr only made the president and himself look guiltier. The press spoke back.
CNN’s Chief White House Correspondent Jim Acosta tweeted a stark comment about the briefing. He said that without the report, the attorney general could “largely avoid questions” about the AG’s conclusion of “no obstruction:”
‘Because Barr spoke to the press about the report before it was released to the public, the AG was able to largely avoid questions about why he drew conclusions of “no obstruction.” Now it appears Trump and his outside legal team will handle that part.’
Acosta’s tweet was remarkably without emotion and down the center of the political divide. Trump has repeatedly singled out the journalist on television and in his rallies as an “enemy of the people.”
Robert Mueller’s report summaries were available to the public 28 days ago, yet reporters were only allowed a glimpse into Mueller’s mind hours after Barr’s public relations conference. Acosta wrote for CNN:
‘The Trump campaign and legal team appears to have a public relations strategy in place for dealing with the fallout from the report: A Trump adviser said the first couple of days of responding to the release will be largely handled by the President’s outside attorneys. That will drive the conversation before the political surrogates come in and respond more aggressively, the adviser said.’
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