The Mueller Report is coming! The Mueller Report is coming! Attorney General Bill Barr has scheduled a press conference for Thursday, the 18th of April, at 9:30 a.m. to talk about special counsel Robert Mueller's Russian election meddling report, a redacted copy of which he has said he is releasing.
TV news outlets were preparing to cover the press conference live. At press time CNBC had already established a YouTube placeholder for its live streamed coverage complete with countdown graphic.
An ABC source confirmed that the network will cover the press conference live with a special report anchored by chief anchor and Good Morning America anchor George Stephanopoulos.
NBC will cut into regular programming before the start of the press conference, with Lester Holt and Savannah Guthrie anchoring from New York and Chuck Todd and Andrea Mitchell joining from D.C. along with Justice Department Correspondents Pete Williams and Julia Ainsley and NBC News’ White House team of Hallie Jackson, Kristen Welker and Peter Alexander and Kasie Hunt on Capitol Hill.
A CBS News spokesperson said the network will cover the press conference "in its entirety" as a special report, anchored by Gayle King, Norah O’Donnell and John Dickerson.
Barr had signaled at his Senate confirmation hearing that he thought the contents of the report should be made public as much as possible within the rules of the special counsel and the four categories of redactions he is required to make. Those are 1) grand jury information, 2) information that the intelligence community thinks could reveal sources and methods, 3) information that could interfere with ongoing prosecutions, and 4) information that implicates the privacy or reputation of peripheral players (people not charged).
He has been working on those redactions he said last week in signaling the report would be out this week.
If it is a repeat of the "made for TV" March Madness of the Sunday (March 24) release of Barr's summary of the report claiming on collusion, the story will dominate the news cycle.
CBS actually didn't go wall-to-wall March 24, choosing to primarily go ball-to-ball with its coverage of the NCAA basketball tournament, though providing a special report at halftime. There will be no similar choice Thursday.
