After little more than a week of celebration, the thin veneer
of propriety Donald Trump gained from four short fantastical pages
penned by Attorney General William Barr has begun to disintegrate. The
flow of champagne in the White House following Barr's hack job on
Robert Mueller's report has been replaced by more of a panic pulsing
through the West Wing, starting with Individual 1 himself. In the wee
hours Thursday morning, Donald Trump woke in a fitful rage to begin
railing against Democrats and the news outlet that first reported cracks in the “complete and total exoneration” narrative Trump and Barr had spun.
"The New York Times had no legitimate sources, which would be totally illegal, concerning the Mueller Report," Trump charged. "In fact, they probably had no sources at all!"
Actually, the Times, the Washington Post, and NBC News—which all posted stories in the last 12 hours about the "immediate displeasure" among some on Mueller's team with Barr's report—did have sources. Trump simply didn't like what they said, which was that Barr's report didn't come anywhere close to relaying the “alarming and significant” gravity of Mueller's findings. So whatever Trump may have said before, upon further consideration, he sure doesn't want the real Mueller report coming to light now.
"According to polling, few people seem to care about the Russian Collusion Hoax, but some Democrats are fighting hard to keep the Witch Hunt alive," Trump claimed in another morning tweet. Actually, the American people are overwhelmingly interested in seeing Mueller's report, and no, Barr's report hasn't filled that need in any way. In fact, every legitimate poll released since Barr's flimsy four-pager first emerged has found that some 70 percent or more of Americans want Mueller's report released.
Earlier this week, the realization that Mueller's full report would prove Trump's delusional "exoneration" claim to be pure fantasy was already settling in at the White House. Trump began calling Democrats "crazed" for wanting to get the full unredacted document after he spent the previous week saying "it wouldn't bother me at all" if it was made public. By Tuesday morning, Trump was not-so-subtly trying to turn the corner on that unforced error. "NOTHING WILL EVER SATISFY THEM!” Trump blasted, castigating Democrats for their pursuit of the document. Apparently Trump does mind now.
Strap in, folks, it's all downhill from here. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler has a subpoena burning a hole in his pocket. Barr and his Justice Department are in full CYA mode now that the deviousness of Barr's unilateral exoneration of Trump is beginning to be unmasked. Whatever they might say, there's simply no good explanation for Barr's decision not to release the summaries Mueller's prosecutors themselves prepared for each section of the report, as revealed by the Post.
"The New York Times had no legitimate sources, which would be totally illegal, concerning the Mueller Report," Trump charged. "In fact, they probably had no sources at all!"
Actually, the Times, the Washington Post, and NBC News—which all posted stories in the last 12 hours about the "immediate displeasure" among some on Mueller's team with Barr's report—did have sources. Trump simply didn't like what they said, which was that Barr's report didn't come anywhere close to relaying the “alarming and significant” gravity of Mueller's findings. So whatever Trump may have said before, upon further consideration, he sure doesn't want the real Mueller report coming to light now.
"According to polling, few people seem to care about the Russian Collusion Hoax, but some Democrats are fighting hard to keep the Witch Hunt alive," Trump claimed in another morning tweet. Actually, the American people are overwhelmingly interested in seeing Mueller's report, and no, Barr's report hasn't filled that need in any way. In fact, every legitimate poll released since Barr's flimsy four-pager first emerged has found that some 70 percent or more of Americans want Mueller's report released.
Earlier this week, the realization that Mueller's full report would prove Trump's delusional "exoneration" claim to be pure fantasy was already settling in at the White House. Trump began calling Democrats "crazed" for wanting to get the full unredacted document after he spent the previous week saying "it wouldn't bother me at all" if it was made public. By Tuesday morning, Trump was not-so-subtly trying to turn the corner on that unforced error. "NOTHING WILL EVER SATISFY THEM!” Trump blasted, castigating Democrats for their pursuit of the document. Apparently Trump does mind now.
Strap in, folks, it's all downhill from here. House Judiciary Committee Chair Jerry Nadler has a subpoena burning a hole in his pocket. Barr and his Justice Department are in full CYA mode now that the deviousness of Barr's unilateral exoneration of Trump is beginning to be unmasked. Whatever they might say, there's simply no good explanation for Barr's decision not to release the summaries Mueller's prosecutors themselves prepared for each section of the report, as revealed by the Post.
The report was prepared “so that the front matter from each section could have been released immediately — or very quickly,” the official said. “It was done in a way that minimum redactions, if any, would have been necessary, and the work would have spoken for itself.”Every day that passes without full disclosure of Mueller’s report provides more evidence that Barr likely produced a load of partisan spin. Trump, who can't see around his backside let alone the corner, clearly made the epic miscalculation of overselling that spin. Now the wheels are coming off the Trump train, and this American misadventure promises to get a whole lot crazier in the coming weeks and months.
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