MSNBC’s Chuck Todd was furious after learning of a New York Times report that the Department of Justice briefed White House lawyers on the Mueller report just before its Thursday release to the public.
Apparently, that now amounts to “collusion.”
On yesterday’s MTP Daily, Todd’s guest, former RNC Chairman Michael Steele cited the Times report and said, “…the only collusion here is colluding on what they’re going to say.”
Todd interjected, “This is actual collusion!”
He continued, “By the way, in case you’re wondering what collusion looks like, it looks like the Attorney General briefing – the Attorney General’s lawyers briefing the President before Congress or the public.”
Attorney General Barr confirmed today during his press conference that DOJ allowed the White House to review the redacted version of the report prior to its release, explaining that the President could have exerted executive privilege over the report, but chose not to.
Because the White House voluntarily cooperated with the Special Counsel’s investigation, significant portions of the report contain material over which the President could have asserted privilege. And he would have been well within his rights to do so. Following my March 29th letter, the Office of the White House Counsel requested the opportunity to review the redacted version of the report in order to advise the President on the potential invocation of privilege, which is consistent with long-standing practice. Following that review, the President confirmed that, in the interests of transparency and full disclosure to the American people, he would not assert privilege over the Special Counsel’s report. Accordingly, the public report I am releasing today contains redactions only for the four categories that I previously outlined, and no material has been redacted based on executive privilege.
Watch the meltdown (courtesy of Newsbusters) below:
