April 17, 2019

The White House Reportedly Knows Details About the Mueller Report Ahead of Its Release—And Democrats Are Pissed

In a press conference Wednesday night, Rep. Jerrold Nadler said Attorney General William Barr “appears to be waging a media campaign on behalf of President Trump.”

House Judiciary Chairman Jerrold NadlerJ. Scott Applewhite/AP

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Democrats are not happy with the Justice Department. At a press conference Wednesday night, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) criticized Attorney General William Barr’s handling of the long-awaited Mueller report. A redacted version of the report is expected to be released Thursday morning, following a press conference from Barr at 9:30 a.m. ET—though the House Judiciary Committee isn’t expected to see it for more than an hour or more after Barr speaks to the press. And, as the New York Times reported Wednesday, Justice Department officials have already discussed findings from the report with the White House, while Trump’s lawyers supposedly plan their rebuttal to the report. 

At the press conference, Nadler said the attorney general “appears to be waging a media campaign on behalf of President Trump” and laid out four ways Barr has put his “spin” on the report: He “cherry picked” findings in his March 24 letter about the report, “withheld” summaries written by the special counsel that “were intended for public consumption,” reportedly briefed the White House on the report’s findings before sharing it with Congress, and lastly, is releasing the report to Congress between 11 am and noon, “well after” Barr’s press conference on Thursday.

“Attorney General Barr is not allowing the facts of the Mueller report to speak for themselves, but is trying to bake in the narrative about the report to the benefit of the White House,” Nadler said. 

Nadler also argued that Barr was deliberately releasing the report so close to a holiday weekend to make it more difficult to respond to.

After taking a few questions, he said he assumes it would be “useful” to ask special counsel Robert Mueller to testify before Congress. “We’ll have to make those decisions after reading what we get.” Similarly, he noted the committee would possibly issue subpoenas, depending on what redactions they’re faced with tomorrow.

Earlier on Wednesday, ahead of his press conference, Nadler also said via Twitter that he was “deeply troubled” by the developments. 

Other top Democrats have expressed their displeasure with the situation:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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