Mueller Report
Attorney General William Barr leaves his home in McLean, Va., on April 17, 2019. Special counsel Robert Mueller's redacted report on Russian interference in the 2016 election is expected to be released publicly on Thursday.
(Sait Serkan Gurbuz/AP)
We ran the numbers: There are 4723 news articles covering this topic. 36% (1702) are left leaning, 39% (1849) center, 25% (1172) right leaning.
On Thursday, the Justice Department released a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The 448-page report did not find sufficient evidence to charge President Trump with conspiracy; however, it did suggest that the president attempted to obstruct the special counsel’s investigation. Attorney General William Barr, who received the unredacted report in March, wrote a memo claiming that the report exonerated Trump from obstruction of justice and collusion with Russia in the 2016 election. Trump himself declared the report a victory for his presidency, tweeting that it indicated no collusion or obstruction. However, the report indicates that Trump did attempt to obstruct the investigation, but was unable to because his staff refused to comply.
Because the Mueller report does not make a determination about whether Trump actually obstructed justice, there were significant differences in how left- and right-leaning news organizations interpreted the news. Right-leaning news sites were more likely to focus on the fact that the report did not accuse Trump of obstruction or conspiracy. For instance, NYPost’s headline read “William Barr says Mueller report found no obstruction or collusion.” Left-leaning news sources, in contrast, were more likely to emphasize the disparities between Barr’s March memo and the findings of the report. They also focused on the redactions in the report as Democrats call for the release of an unredacted version.
NPR, a center news source, focused on answering the question of what happens next after the release of the report. Democrats in Congress have requested that both Barr and Mueller testify on Capitol Hill in May, and may consider impeachment proceedings.