Fox anchor Bret Baier claims William Barr was “laying it out straight, cut and dry” in press conference prior to Mueller report release

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:

Video file

BRET BAIER (FOX NEWS ANCHOR): At the beginning of this, clearly the attorney general was laying out, much as he did, the conclusions in that letter that he sent out -- specifically on collusion and conspiring -- that no American, no member of the Trump campaign, and the president himself did not conspire with Russia to interfere in the 2016 election. Went through that a number of different ways, a number of different times and very definitively. On the obstruction issue, that was where we got more detail. That in this report there are 10 episodes where the special counsel notes that there is a potential for obstruction but does not reach the conclusion that there was in fact obstruction by the president. The attorney general makes that determination and the deputy attorney general, saying that it is not obstruction. They did not find corrupt intent and then they go into the details of how much cooperation the White House gave to the special counsel in documents, in interviews, and not calling for any executive privilege for any redactions throughout this. Now, I do think there will be some criticism. You started to hear it in the reporters' questions towards the end about, you know, what the president was thinking and his emotions being upset and that this was an effort to pre-spin the actual document. But, you know, Bill Barr kind of laying it out straight, cut and dry, here is what his conclusion is, and then he is going to release the report. And we'll see.