MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow was fact-checked by her own production team Friday when the cable news host claimed that Attorney General Bill Barr was single-handedly deciding which parts of the Mueller report to redact prior to its release.
Maddow, who was near tears last week when special counsel Robert Mueller submitted his final report on Russian collusion without indicting President Donald Trump or his family, continues to raise questions about the report on her show. (RELATED: Rachel Maddow Spends Opening Segment About Mueller Report Holding Back Tears)
On Friday night, Maddow focused on the wait time for the release of the Mueller report and claimed that Barr is personally redacting portions of the document.
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“We have seen that, as a matter of course, in hundreds of court filings over the entire duration of the Mueller investigation, Mueller’s team made redactions specifically … to not compromise ongoing investigations and ongoing criminal cases all the time,” Maddow said Friday night. “This is a thing Mueller’s team does in its sleep.”
“It is hard to believe the newly-appointed 68-year-old Attorney General William Barr himself personally picked through the report to try to figure out what mentions in this 400-page report might pertain to open cases,” she continued. “It wouldn’t leave that to Barr to do that. Mueller would’ve done that. Mueller’s team would’ve done that as part of producing anything that they’ve handed over outside of their own offices.”
While Maddow was claiming Barr had sole responsibility for redactions, the chyron on her show indicated that Mueller’s team is actually working with the attorney general.
“Barr: Special Counsel Is Assisting With Redactions,” the chyron informed as Maddow argued the exact opposite.
Maddow also did not explain that the report would not be redacted before being sent to Barr because Barr has the security clearance and seniority in order to read the full report. The redactions are for the benefit of the public, who cannot be privy to ongoing investigations or confidential information, unlike the head of the Justice Department. (RELATED: Here’s When The Full Mueller Report Will Be Public)
Maddow’s ratings plummeted last week after the conclusion of Mueller’s Russia investigation. In the span of just one week, Maddow dropped half-a-million viewers.