Fox News host Laura Ingraham criticized her colleague Chris Wallace on Wednesday morning for his comments about the letter special counsel Robert Mueller sent to Attorney General William Barr about Barr’s summary of the investigation.
Both Ingraham and Wallace had appearances on America’s Newsroom prior to Barr’s appearance in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.
Wallace, who was on the show first, said, “I think Bill Barr is going to get roasted today by the Democrats and the Republicans will have to do some rehabilitation to try and restore him,” adding that it’s “much ado about something.” (RELATED: Investigate The Steele Dossier As Russian Disinformation, Intel Experts Say)
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“The idea that Bill Barr set about to fundamentally distort and misrepresent a 448-page report that he knew would be almost in its entirety released except for redactions that were agreed upon. The idea he would set about to do that to what, ruin his entire career and be roundly ridiculed is preposterous. So for this frothy frenzy on the other cables last night and in the pages of the Amazon post, I say this,” Ingraham stated.
“Focus on the two lines that make this such a relatively non-story. When Barr pressed him whether he thought Barr’s letter was inaccurate, Mueller said he did not. But felt that the media coverage of the letter was misinterpreting the investigation, according to officials.”
She continued, “Now, I know Chris Wallace, at the top of your hour, was indicating that I guess that he kind of agrees with these other cable networks that this was an attempt by the DOJ to spin what the conversation was between Barr and Mueller? I don’t know if Chris Wallace has information that I don’t have. But that he is saying that Barr is perpetuating a lie about this conversation between him and Mueller?”
WASHINGTON, DC – MAY 1: U.S. Attorney General William Barr arrives to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee May 1, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
The memo “did not fully capture the context, nature, and substance of this office’s work and conclusions,” Mueller wrote. “There is now public confusion about critical aspects of the results of our investigation.” (RELATED: ‘Completely 100% Wrong:’ Lindsey Graham Calls Out Judge Nap On Obstruction Question)
While many used that quote from Mueller’s letter to criticize Barr, the special counsel did not take issue with the accuracy of Barr’s memo to Congress.
Wallace appeared to push back on Ingraham without naming her during an appearance on Shep Smith’s show:
I know there are some people who don’t think this March 27th letter is a big deal and some opinion people, some opinion people who appear on this network who may be pushing a political agenda but, you know, we have to deal in facts. The fact is that this letter from the special counsel, and it was one of at least three contacts with the Attorney general between March 25th and March 27th, was a clear indication that the Attorney General was upset, very upset with the letter that had been sent out by the Attorney General and wanted it changed.
