VIDEO. Overview of the Barr Presser--There Isn't Anything Here

Screengrab from https://youtu.be/_X13UvNBBec

William Barr just finished up his presser. Wow. Impressive. The guy is cool and unruffled and totally controlled the event. Here are the highlights.

Obstruction

The big event was obstruction because there was no collusion and the people who pimped this for two years are going to look damned stupid if there was nothing. Borrowing language from the Special Counsel’s report, this is how Barr described the “obstruction.”

"As he entered into office, and sought to perform his responsibilities as President, federal agents and prosecutors were scrutinizing his conduct before and after taking office, and the conduct of some of his associates."

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 18, 2019

"And as the Special Counsel’s report acknowledges, there is substantial evidence to show that the President was frustrated and angered by a sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks. "

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 18, 2019

" And at the same time, the President took no act that in fact deprived the Special Counsel of the documents and witnesses necessary to complete his investigation."

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 18, 2019

"Apart from whether the acts were obstructive, this evidence of non-corrupt motives weighs heavily against any allegation that the President had a corrupt intent to obstruct the investigation."

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) April 18, 2019

Barr says Trump entered an "unprecedented" situaiton as President including "relentless" media speculation about his conduct.

This is the context Barr says he used when he made his decision on the question of obstruction of justice. pic.twitter.com/7114yKFMHQ

— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) April 18, 2019

Barr: White House fully cooperated with Mueller — meanwhile, POTUS did not use executive privilege to redact ANYTHING. In the interest of transparency, he relied entirely on AG’s discretion.

— Trish Regan (@trish_regan) April 18, 2019

Funny stories here.

Reporter: why did you call it “unprecedented?” Isn’t that strong? Barr: Do you have a precedent? Reporter: No… Barr shrugs and goes to another question.

Dweebish reporter with a scraggly hipster beard: Why isn’t Mueller and his team here. This is his report. Barr: No, it is a report that Mueller submitted to me, it is my responsibility to decide what to do with it.

Reporter with bad haircut and roll of neck fat: Isn’t it improper for you to do this? Barr: No.

Collusion

“The Special Counsel confirmed that the Russian government sponsored efforts to illegally interfere with the 2016 presidential election, but did not find that the Trump campaign or other Americans colluded in those efforts,” Barr says #MuellerReport pic.twitter.com/h96lDDgHbF

— Bloomberg QuickTake (@QuickTake) April 18, 2019

This is the key question that will be known once we see the Report: whether Mueller made a very narrow, technical finding that there wasn't enough evidence to criminally convict on Russia conspiracy (as media has been claiming), or found no evidence of it at all (as Barr said): https://t.co/fHLGCCZEaR

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 18, 2019

UPDATE: Barr: No Trump Russia Collusion. Special Counsel Says Russian GRU Gave Clinton Emails To WikiLeaks https://t.co/hxHCzaj51N via @SaraCarterDC

— Sara A. Carter (@SaraCarterDC) April 18, 2019

He was asked if Mueller would testify before Congress: