MSNBC Panel Baffled by Barr Presser: Mueller Has ‘More Credibilty’ Than AG, Was This Trump’s Idea?

Nicolle Wallace and her MSNBC panel this afternoon questioned the point of AG Bill Barr holding a press conference on the Mueller report tomorrow morning.

The report is expected to be released in the morning, and as NBC News reporter Julia Ainsley noted, there’s a looming question of why this is happening in the first place:

“The big thing I think everyone is asking here is is this press conference a way for Barr to get ahead of any information that we might find in the report and put his spin on it, and put a spin on it that’s favorable to the president, before the public has had a chance to really digest what’s in this report? That’s the main thing that people are asking at this point.”

Former Defense Dept. chief of staff Jeremy Bash said he wouldn’t be surprised to find out this was POTUS’ idea.

Wallace said from a media standpoint, when you want to present something with credibility, you “have the person with more credibility do it” and right now “the person between Barr and Mueller with more credibility is Mueller.”

You can watch above, via MSNBC.

UPDATE –– 5:42 pm ET: A DOJ spokesperson said the decision was theirs:

DOJ spox pushes back on the idea that Trump wanted the presser…

“It was the Department of Justice’s decision to do the press conference tomorrow,” spox says.

— Andrew Desiderio (@desiderioDC) April 17, 2019

[image via screengrab]

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!