America has been waiting two years to hear from Robert Mueller.
Trump announced Wednesday that his handpicked Attorney General William Barr will hold a press conference on the report at 9:30 a.m. ET on Thursday. Officials said that the report would not be released to Congress until after Barr’s appearance, druing the 11 a.m. ET hour. And Trump said he may well follow up with his own news conference, as part of what looks like a clear effort to cement initial and crucial first public perceptions of the report.
And The New York Times reported on Wednesday that there had been numerous conversations between the White House and the Justice Department ahead of the release of the Mueller report.
The consultations helped Trump’s legal team prepare its defense against the report ahead of the political showdown that is likely to develop over its contents, the paper said.
Democrats quickly expressed alarm that Barr will speak before the report is delivered to Congress, a move that would offer the attorney general a significant advantage and condemned the reported consultations between the White House and the Justice Department.
„Rather than letting the facts of the report speak for themselves, the attorney general has taken unprecedented steps to spin Mueller’s nearly two-year investigation,“ said Democratic House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler in a news conference Wednesday.
„This is wrong. It is contrary to the attorney general’s own words to the committee.“
Nadler later joined four other Democratic committee chairs in demanding Barr cancel his scheduled press conference, calling it „unnecessary and inappropriate.“ The committee chairs objected to the Justice Department reportedly briefing the White House on Mueller’s work before Congress
The fast breaking developments on Wednesday evening significantly raised political tensions ahead of a landmark day in American political history.
