SANDRA SMITH (ANCHOR): Laura Ingraham joins us now over the phone. Laura, we see images of William Barr leaving his home this morning en route to Capitol Hill. This is all set to begin shortly. I'm sure you have a lot to say on this. But it is really setting up to be quite a morning. What do you expect?



LAURA INGRAHAM (FOX NEWS HOST) Sandra, the meltdown on the other cable channels last night as we were broadcasting The Ingraham Angle was something really for the ages. We have in special counsel Mueller someone who has worked in law enforcement at the highest levels for decades. We have someone in Bill Barr who has worked at the highest levels of the legal profession both as a CEO and former attorney general and so forth for decades, OK?

Both men have enormous experience in dealing with really complex matters. But the idea that Bill Barr set about to fundamentally distort and misrepresent a 448 page report that he knew would be almost in its entirety released except for redactions that were agreed upon -- the idea he would set about to do that to what, ruin his entire career and be roundly ridiculed, is preposterous.

And so for this frothy frenzy on the other cables last night and in the pages of the Amazon Post, I say this. Focus on the two lines that make this such relatively a non-story. When Barr pressed him whether he thought Barr's letter was inaccurate, Mueller said he did not. But felt that the media coverage of the letter was misinterpreting the investigation according to officials.

Now, I know Chris Wallace at the top of your hour was indicating that I guess that he kind of agrees with these other cable networks that this was an attempt by the DOJ to spin what the conversation was between Barr and Mueller. So I don't know if Chris Wallace has information that I don't have. But that he is saying that Barr is perpetuating a lie about this conversation between him and Mueller?

I mean, I think if Mueller thought that this investigation was being distorted in its synopsis by Barr, Bob Mueller is a big boy. He could have come out and issued a very terse public statement. He did not do that, Sandra.

SMITH: Well, certainly what we're hearing from you, what we heard from --

INGRAHAM: Instead, one of the other members of the merry band of investigators decided to leak this letter right before Barr comes up to testify. Now, isn't that curious?

SMITH: Obviously, and we'll hear -- by the way, we'll --

INGRAHAM: So as somebody who happens to have known Bill Barr for decades and myself worked at pretty high levels in the legal profession, I find the reporting on this and much of the commentary on this to be harmful and frankly very disturbing. And I'm watching this in real time and this is not spin by the way, this is analysis of the current situation as it stands.

SMITH: By the way, we'll hear more from Bret Baier and Chris Wallace themselves in a bit, before William Barr begins a short time from now. We've got everybody on deck. But meanwhile Laura, also what is being decided now, there's gonna be a vote in the House, a committee vote, on whether or not the House Judiciary will be allowed to have staff ask questions of William Barr at their hearing tomorrow. Should that be allowed?

INGRAHAM: I mean, I don't think it really matters. If there was some conversation about that -- I mean I frankly think a lot of the congressmen themselves don't do a very good job of questioning. I mean we've seen this over the years where there is this big build-up in these hearings and then you have people who are not really used to cross-examining people or getting information flailing about for the cameras trying to get relevant information and questions asked and instead they just end up grandstanding.

What the American people have to understand that this really isn't about the quest for the truth, OK? This is about the 2020 election, scoring political points, and trying somehow to tar the reputation of a man who has served with dignity and the utmost ethical understanding of the American legal system for decades. This is what Washington, D.C. -- I lived here way too long Sandra. This is what Washington, D.C., has become: a smear machine of good people. If you're connected to Donald Trump in any way, they not only want to smear you, they want to make sure you never work again. That's how bad it is.

So people out there claiming that Barr is spinning or misrepresenting, we got to take a breath here and look at this situation in its entirety where a president was targeted early on erroneously by a fake dossier and a phony dossier funded by Hillary to begin this entire investigation. People lose sight of how disturbing that initial fact is and we end up today with all the histrionics surrounding this hearing.

SMITH: I know everybody's got a lot to say on this. And Laura, we appreciate your time this morning. You set up what is going to be quite a heated moment on Capitol Hill, just a few moments from now. Laura Ingraham, thank you.

Previously:

Fox & Friends spins reporting that Mueller complained about Barr's summary of the special counsel's report

Fox anchor says AG Barr's summary of Mueller's report must be accurate because it was written with “champion of the left,” Rod Rosenstein

Media trumpeted William Barr's spin on the Mueller report (again) -- will they ever learn?