Trump just let the mask slip and showed his terror about last night’s Mueller report bombshell

Donald Trump’s post-Mueller report victory lap has already fallen flat on its face.

After Attorney General William Barr released a summary of Mueller’s findings — in which he revealed that Mueller didn’t make a decision on whether or not Trump obstructed justice and that Mueller didn’t find enough evidence of collusion to proceed — Trump acted as if he had been completely exonerated. He did this despite the fact that Barr’s summary conceded that Mueller explicitly did not exonerate the president.

Yesterday, the Republicans’ triumphalism backfired when The New York Times published a bombshell story in which it was revealed that some of the investigators who worked on Special Counsel Mueller’s investigation have told associates that Barr didn’t accurately portray their findings, which are in fact far more damaging to Trump than the Attorney General let on. Given the fact that Barr was handpicked by the president, it’s perhaps not a totally shocking development, but it is a disturbing one.

If the Mueller report is indeed worse for the president and his associate than Barr’s summary implies, it would explain why Trump and the GOP aren’t rushing to release the full report. If there was nothing bad inside of it and it actually did clear the president’s name, you can be sure they would already have made it public.

For his part, Trump clearly knows what a disastrous development The New York Times story is for him, as he woke up this morning and launched a frothing Twitter attack on the reputable publication.

“The New York Times had no legitimate sources, which would be totally illegal,” Trump said without any proof, lying through his teeth while also accusing the newspaper of breaking the law as if he were a third world dictator and not the President of the United States.

“In fact they had no sources at all!” Trump added, stepping up his rhetoric, again without evidence. Out of credible lines of attack or any creative excuses, he then hurled his shopworn “Fake News.”

The tweet is deeply unconvincing and shows just how worried he is about the Barr revelation. He knows the pressure is going to start mounting for a full release of the Mueller report, and it’s unclear if he will be able to stop it from going public. In any case, it’s up to Democrats to step up on behalf of the American people and continue fighting for the report. It must be given, unredacted, to the American people immediately.

Natalie Dickinson

Natalie is a staff writer for the Washington Press. She graduated from Oberlin College in 2010 and has been freelance blogging and writing for progressive outlets ever since.