There has been much speculation about Attorney General William Barr’s alleged attempts to cover up and minimize the conclusions in the Mueller Report. In the last few days we’ve been given many new illuminating details about the process, or lack thereof, Barr went through to release first his summary, then his testimony before Congress, and the ultimately release of the redacted Mueller report on Holy Thursday, just before Easter.
Barr’s initial letter cherry-picked quotes from the Mueller report to set the narrative for Individual 1 to do a victory lap, claiming exoneration on both “collusion” and obstruction of justice. Barr’s later testimony to Congress backed this up and doubled down. The one month delay before release of the redacted report was critical to baking in public opinion, using Barr’s summary as the be all and end all opinion. Nothing to see here, folks, move along.
Lo and behold, in the middle of Christian Holy Week and at the start of a long Christian holiday weekend for the vast majority of the political base of Individual 1, the report was finally (mostly) released. The Holy Thursday Heist.
How is this a coincidence? The one weekend on the spring calendar when the fewest people in the Trump base would be paying attention to news, the report is magically redacted and ready to be released. The holiday weekend when people are most concerned with doing the stations of the cross and finding Easter eggs, the report seeps out into the public along with more Barr spin.
I speculate this is not a coincidence at all. It seems like yet another step in a cold and calculating plan to control the public narrative around the Mueller report. It’s not the Saturday Night Massacre. It’s the Holy Thursday Heist.
Barr seemingly waited until Holy Thursday to bury the report, hide it under the holidays, allowing his original spin on the report to remain set in the minds of the American public.
Yes, that’s right, Holy Thursday commemorating the last supper of Christ before his crucifixion the next day on Good Friday, when Christians are in church, traveling to meet family, not watching the news, and before Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday, when no one is going to be reading the Mueller report, Barr finally allowed the report to be released.
While Barr may be skipping the House Judiciary hearings today, he needs to be asked pointed questions on the press conference and schedule for releasing the redacted report. Did he look at the spring calendar and decide that was the best day to release the report? Did the White House have any sway or influence on the exact scheduling of that release? Who was involved in the decision to hold the report that long against the wishes of the Mueller team, that complained Barr’s original letter was creating confusion?
In summary, who planned this Holy Thursday Heist and what were their motivations? There was no other legitimate reason for the report to be held that long or to that particular day than political motivations to control the impact of the report. And everyone involved need to be challenged about this spin control, which is yet another brick in the wall of obstruction being put up by Attorney General Barr.