Twitter exploded throughout Attorney General William Barr
William Pelham BarrGOP rep predicts watchdog report on alleged FISA abuses will find 'problems' Barr defends Trump's use of executive authority, slams impeachment hearings GOP eager for report on alleged FBI surveillance abuse MORE's press conference ahead of the release of special counsel Robert Mueller
Robert (Bob) Swan MuellerHouse impeachment hearings: The witch hunt continues Speier says impeachment inquiry shows 'very strong case of bribery' by Trump Gowdy: I '100 percent' still believe public congressional hearings are 'a circus' MORE's report, with strong but varying reactions from members of the media.
Barr offered a staunch defense of President Trump
Donald John TrumpFive takeaways from the Democratic debate As Buttigieg rises, Biden is still the target Leading Democrats largely pull punches at debate MORE during the press conference, where he previewed the report's findings and explained why they led him to conclude that Trump had not obstructed justice.
Barr called the report a vindication of Trump over the allegations of collusion with Russian officials to influence the 2016 election.
All of the top-trending hashtags on Twitter surrounded the Barr press conference and Mueller report on Thursday morning, with Barr's comments and media reaction to them dominating.
Barr is saying that the White House "fully cooperated" and repeating "no collusion" again and again just feels ... not great.
— Benjamin Pauker (@benpauker) April 18, 2019
this is straight-up PR
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) April 18, 2019
CNN has 8 people talking about this & they all vehemently agree with one another on every last thing. This has been a major part of the problem from the start. All humans are more likely to err or worse if they are insulated from challenge or dissent. It's inherently corrupting: pic.twitter.com/6U5aZqzgPn
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 18, 2019
Barr says there are only light redactions of the report, says Congress will get an unredacted version of the report, and says he has no problem with Mueller testifying—and the media concludes that he is covering for Trump
— Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) April 18, 2019
Watching AG Bill Barr's press conference.He is a true statesman, one of a very few in Washington these days. He is going by the book, regardless of the intense smears against him by the media & the Dems
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) April 18, 2019
MEDIA: if you just run off and repeat what Barr says the report says ... SO HELP ME GOD.
— Will Wilkinson (@willwilkinson) April 18, 2019
AG Barr has now said the words "no collusion" repeatedly. Reminder, this is not a legal term but it is a term that has been repeated over and over again by President Trump.
— Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) April 18, 2019
"There was no evidence of the Trump campaign collusion with the Russian government's hacking," Barr says.
Exclusive image of Bill Barr getting ready for press conference today while speaking to Trump on the phone . #TrumpColluded pic.twitter.com/i2EjiHycOW
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) April 18, 2019
Barr is just repeating the "no collision" finding. He's already done it four times, by my count.
— Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) April 18, 2019
Journalists who openly & giddily speculated about "collusion" for 2 yrs are now *horrified* the AG said "no collusion" half-a-dozen times in relaying findings of a probe they've covered breathlessly.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) April 18, 2019
Almost as if they're processing personal disappointment over those findings.
The redacted Mueller report will be sent to Congress by CD-ROM at 11 a.m. Thursday.
