CNN's Chris Cuomo is befuddled by Attorney General William Barr's rollout of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report — but the way it's being handled does remind him of someone.
Barr plans to hold a press conference on Thursday morning about the release of the redacted version of the Mueller report. But the report won't actually be made public until hours later, meaning journalists won't have the opportunity to ask informed questions, and Barr could be able to frame the narrative about the report.
This plan "to have a press conference about something before you've released that thing," is "weird," Cuomo concluded on New Day. Perhaps it's because Barr has taken some inspiration from President Trump, Cuomo considered. He asked: "Who likes to do press conferences where they promise that things are going to happen and people don't know the facts yet, but 'here, this is going to be amazing' ... I wonder who may have encouraged this press conference?"
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Cuomo, in fact, raised concerns about Barr all throughout Thursday's New Day. At the top of the show, Alisyn Camerota noted that Democrats are "accusing Barr of trying to shield the president and color Mueller's findings for the public," to which Cuomo shot back, "And that's because he is," per NewsBusters. Cuomo on his Wednesday show complained about Barr's handling of the entire process, from his four-page summary to his press conference held before a holiday weekend, arguing, "The process has been stinky."
Cuomo's fears didn't seem to be assuaged after the Justice Department announced the topics for the press conference later in the morning, with Cuomo saying that "Democrats are accusing Barr of improperly trying to color Mueller’s findings before the public or lawmakers could read the Mueller report, and by definition, he’s doing just that."
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