If you were expecting a chastened and retrospective media this morning as the attorney general put to bed the last two years of #RussiaGate hysteria, you were perhaps being overly optimistic. Every reporter except for Fox New’s Catherine Herridge asked hostile questions of the attorney general, suggesting he was trying to protect the president.
President Trump tweeted his reaction to the Mueller report, further upsetting liberals.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 18, 2019
Let’s be 100 percent clear: Today we are NOT getting the mueller report. We're getting the version trump’s hand picked AG William Barr is allowing us to see after he deletes info on trump. That’s not how democracies work-it’s how authoritarian regimes operate. #TrumpColluded
— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) April 18, 2019
As Town Hall’s Guy Benson noted, it’s as if journalists are having a hard time processing their own complicity in peddling the Russia collusion hoax for the past two years.
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.
Almost as if they're processing personal disappointment over those findings.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) April 18, 2019
Here are some other reactions on Twitter to the media’s dismal performance this morning:
The relentless stupidity of some media hacks on this topic is infuriating. Now they're angry AG Barr addressed POTUS's "belief", feelings and state of mind about the investigation. Er guys, the law requires an analysis of intent & it's MUELLER who brought state of mind into play
— Undercover Huber (@JohnWHuber) April 18, 2019
MUELLER:
TRUMP: No Collusion
MANAFORT: No Collusion
FLYNN: No Collusion
GATES: No Collusion
COHEN: No Collusion
STONE: No Collusion
PAGE: No Collusion
PAPADOPOULOS: No Collusion
GRU DNC Hack: No Collusion
IRA Russians: No CollusionMEDIA: Collusion!
TWITTER: #TrumpColluded
— Undercover Huber (@JohnWHuber) April 18, 2019
It's telling that none of the reporters at the Barr press conference asked him about Mueller's findings on collusion. It's the reason for this whole thing, but the press has moved on.
— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) April 18, 2019
Oh man, I could have had another 20 minutes of the media losing it there. That was pure gold. pic.twitter.com/A3mFl7dZYa
— Mollie (@MZHemingway) April 18, 2019
They never learn, even after the collusion debacle. https://t.co/7setlDwHpN
— Brit Hume (@brithume) April 18, 2019
Everybody’s favorite part of Barr’s presser came when a reporter accused him of being “generous” to the president.
“You said this is an unprecedented situation,” the reporter said.
“Well is there another precedent for it?” Barr calmly asked the reporter.
“No–but …”
“Well then unprecedented is an accurate description,” Barr concluded, shutting her completely down.
Barr: "I'm not sure what your basis is for saying I'm being generous to the President."
A reporter then brings up his use of the word "unprecedented."
"Is there another precedent for it," Barr asks.
"No," the reporter answers.
"OK so unprecedented is an accurate description." pic.twitter.com/5Mkso4BOCR
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 18, 2019
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)