The annoyed journalists at ABC on Thursday reacted to William Barr’s press conference by slamming the “unprecedented” spin from the Attorney General, likening it to a Game of Thrones plot line about cleaning up for a king.
The reporters at ABC on reacted by repeatedly deriding the press conference previewing the release of the Mueller Report as “unprecedented.” Terry Moran reminded that, just because Donald Trump may not have done anything illegal, there’s still probably something bad enough in the report: “This is the day that the conversation shifts though... from was this criminal to was it right? There's a big difference between what's lawful and what's right.”
Moran added, “[Barr is] trying to spin a little bit here and put in context what the American people are about to see for themselves.” Later, ABC analyst Matt Dowd analogized, “[Barr] felt more like, to get back to a Game of Thrones reference, he felt more like the hand of the king than he did the Attorney General of the United States.”
Contrasting Mueller’s to the investigation into Bill Clinton, Moran offered a liberal media flashback to Ken Starr’s “lurid sexpose” of the Democrat.
They rewrote the guidelines around investigations like this so it went to the Attorney General confidentially because Ken Starr's report was such a catastrophe, a lurid sexpose of a president and probably did distract the country at the time.
A partial transcript is below. Click "expand" to read more.
ABC live coverage
4/18/1910:03
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Cecilia Vega, already President Trump has responded to William Barr's press conference. Likely to fuel the concern Democrats have.
CECILIA VEGA: Exactly. I think there's probably no question President Trump was watching this. He tends to be watching TV at this hour in the morning. So, he's got a tweet out right after Barr wrapped, saying, “No collusion, no obstruction, game over.” It's a Game of Thrones reference actually. We can't emphasize enough the extraordinary nature of what we witnessed this morning. It's not just going to be from Democrats. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear concerns coming from Republicans on Capitol Hill about what we just witnessed. This was the Attorney General seeming to defend how the President was feeling going into this, talking about his frustration and his anger. This wasn't Bill Barr, William Barr, just laying out the procedures for this report. This was him telling the world through his revue, prism what this report will entail. This is him putting a spin on the report before we see it.
STEPHANOPOULOS: One other way, Terry Moran, that this situation is, indeed, unprecedented.
TERRY MORAN: It is unprecedented. This is the day, that the conversation shifts though, as I said, from was this criminal to was it right? There's a big difference between what's lawful and what's right. What’s criminal and what’s wrong. And I think the conversation a lot of people in the country are going to have as they make their way through this report is one that I think Barr wanted to meet with this closing argument he was making. He's trying to spin a little bit here and put in context what the American people are about to see for themselves. It's admirable he's going to release as much as he can.
10:08
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: I think back to previous special counsels. We heard from the special counsels. We heard from Ken Starr. We didn't hear from the Attorney General.
MORAN: Different law. That law lapsed. The independent counsel law provided for the independent counsel to send a report to Congress. They rewrote the guidelines around investigations like this so it went to the Attorney General confidentially because Ken Starr's report was such a catastrophe, a lurid sexpose of a president and probably did distract the country at the time.
10:11
MATT DOWD: He put his own credibility on the line, As you watched him do that, excusing the president on his emotional or mood state, he felt more like, to get back to a Game of Thrones reference, he felt more like the hand of the king than he did the Attorney General of the United States.
