One of the most important things in politics is the ability to set the narrative. If you can get other people to buy your version of who, what, why and how, you can have considerable power over them. You influence what they decide is true.
After two years of virtually no leaks from the Mueller team, some investigators are starting to tell reporters that the report issued by Attorney General Barr downplayed Trump’s role and made it look more benign that it was.
There are a lot of reasons why this could be happening — many investigators no longer work for Mueller or the DOJ and are not under the same rules they have been for two years. But there is some speculation that Barr cherry-picked what to release and by getting in first was able to set a narrative that Trump had been completely exonerated when the report explicitly said he had not been in the realm of obstruction of justice.
What we may be seeing here, even as Congress has subpoenaed the report and is trying to get a clean version of it, is the effort of the Mueller team to stop the Barr narrative from being accepted as fact before it can be verified by people not loyal to Trump.
N.Y. Times: Barr understated Mueller findings by Mike Allen
Some Mueller investigators have told associates that their findings were more troubling for President Trump than Attorney General William Barr has indicated, the N.Y. Times reports.
- Although details couldn’t be learned, the report “is believed to examine Mr. Trump’s efforts to thwart the investigation.”
Why it matters: “This is the first evidence of tension between Barr and the special counsel’s office.”
One person told the WashPost: “It was much more acute than Barr suggested.”
AmGov, Axios and the News 