The Patriot Post® · Mueller Blames Media, Media Blame Barr
“The collusion truthers have morphed into coverup truthers so the reported Mueller complaint will be with us awhile, never mind that he found no actual inaccuracies in the Barr memo.” So said political analyst Brit Hume in response to The Washington Post’s report on a leaked letter from Special Counsel Robert Mueller supposedly complaining about the way Attorney General William Barr handled his executive summary of Mueller’s final report. Media actors are accusing Barr of a “coverup.”
Before we get to the letter, let’s call the Washington Post’s story what it is: A leak by some deep-state actor (the Post doesn’t reveal how it obtained the letter) politically timed for maximum damage to Barr and the Justice Department ahead of Barr’s congressional testimony today and tomorrow. It’s also part of the plan to churn this whole narrative to keep President Donald Trump on the ropes all the way through the 2020 election. Democrats now have an excuse to clamor for Mueller to testify, as Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Intelligence Committee Chairman and Chief Witch Hunter Adam Schiff have already done.
“The summary letter the Department sent to Congress and released to the public late in the afternoon of March 24 did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office’s work and conclusions,” Mueller wrote. “There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation. This threatens to undermine a central purpose for which the Department appointed the Special Counsel: to assure full public confidence in the outcome of the investigations.”
However, the two men reportedly spoke by phone after Mueller sent his letter. According to the Post, “When Barr pressed Mueller on whether he thought Barr’s memo to Congress was inaccurate, Mueller said he did not but felt that the media coverage of it was misinterpreting the investigation.” Ah, so it was the media coverage that was the problem. Talk about burying the lede.
As Andrew McCarthy put it, “So [Mueller] wasn’t saying the letter was inaccurate, but was worried about media coverage and whether his narrative would dictate it. Story of the whole investigation.”
And former House Speaker Newt Gingrich concluded, “After all the noise you just shrug your shoulders and say, ‘So what?’ Mueller had every opportunity to come out the day that Barr released his letter. Mueller could have at any point decided to refute it and as I understand the actual key sentences, the distortion is by the news media. The distortion is not by Barr. Think about this. The media that Mueller is complaining about are the people who are now using Mueller’s complaint to further distort what is going on. You couldn’t make this up.”