Plus: Barr’s pre-buttal?
Welcome to Muellermas, the glorious day when all of the political kiddies get to unwrap the present Santa Robert has left under their tree. Rather than arriving at midnight, however, the Mueller report will arrive sometime around noon today. However, Santa Robert’s little helper will hold a pre-release press conference at 9:30 ET this morning to talk about… what, exactly?
Coming to a Justice Department near you: The most highly anticipated investigative report in at least a generation, special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s report on Russian interference in the 2016 election, gets some pre-release hype at 9:30 EDT on Thursday in Washington before its wide release later in the day.
Attorney General William Barr and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein will be on hand at the Justice Department to deliver the (perhaps heavily redacted) goods. So as one of the few events that could preempt “Today” and “Good Morning America” gets underway, here are some of the key questions surrounding the report.
Democrats already criticized the attorney general for issuing a four-page summary of Mueller’s report weeks before releasing it. And some are asking why Barr would hold a press conference on it Thursday rather then let the report speak for itself.
Are Democrats alone in asking that question? It does seem a bit curious. Barr has already summarized the report’s conclusions in a four-page letter to Congress. If he wanted to expand on his summary, Barr could have held a presser at any time after releasing the summary. Presumably, Barr wants to pre-empt any criticism over the redactions in the report by meeting the press on his own terms this morning. However, that’s going to be tough to do when no one has seen the report and can’t ask informed questions about the extent of the redactions.
