Following Attorney General Bill Barr’s press conference ahead of the release of the redacted report by special counsel Robert Mueller, many criticized him for giving a partisan performance intended to spin the report before anyone has seen it. Without seeing the report, Fox News anchor Bret Baier put a positive spin on Barr's remarks, claiming that he was “laying it out straight, cut and dry, here is what his conclusion is.”
Wow, Barr is actually doing this. Pre-spinning the Mueller report in Trump’s favor.
— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) April 18, 2019
I have heard *a lot* of press announcements like this.
I do not recall *any* other instance of someone doing what Barr is right now: characterizing all crucial elements of a report *while withholding the underlying material* that would allow others to judge for themselves.— James Fallows (@JamesFallows) April 18, 2019
It's not an inference that Barr was defending the President AGAINST MUELLER'S CONCLUSIONS today. He admitted it. It's fact. Any reporter who doesn't lead with that is committing malpractice.
— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) April 18, 2019
The fact that Barr keeps using the word “collusion” tells you all you need to know about the degree to which this is just a cynical pre-framing effort.
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) April 18, 2019
From the April 18 edition of Fox News’ America's Newsroom: