| No Images? Click here   The Justice Department released a redacted version of special counsel Robert Mueller's long-awaited report on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election on Thursday morning. HuffPost's Ryan J. Reilly was on the scene — and asked one of the most widely covered questions of the day. We asked him about his coverage.When did you know that the report was coming? What did you do to prepare?The Justice Department told us the date of the report's release on Monday, and we developed a coverage plan over the next couple of days. We had a number of prewrites ready to go so that we could get an initial story up as quickly as possible before diving further into the lengthy, comprehensive report.What was the atmosphere like at the Justice Department Thursday morning?Chaotic! We didn't know the precise details of what Attorney General William Barr would be discussing at the press conference, but we were told it was going to focus more on process questions: The Justice Department's communications with the White House, redaction procedures, etc. It became clear that we wouldn't have access to the report before the press conference happened, which give Barr an opportunity to once again shape the early narrative of media coverage of the report.Tell us about the question you asked? What made you decide to ask it?There was considerable controversy over Barr's decision to hold a press conference before the Mueller report went public. A number of top House Democrats demanded that Barr cancel the press conference, and some other reporters and commentators suggested on Twitter that Justice Department reporters boycott the event altogether.I thought there was a way for the press conference to be beneficial if Barr avoided further characterizing the report and stuck with speaking only about his interactions with the White House, the redaction process, etc. But he didn't do that. Instead he characterized the report in administration-friendly terms, several times directly echoing the president's "no collusion" mantra. Barr said President Donald Trump was facing an "unprecedented situation," took a shot at the media for "relentless speculation" about Trump's personal culpability, and even sympathized with Trump's feelings — saying Trump was "frustrated and angered by a sincere belief that the investigation was undermining his presidency, propelled by his political opponents, and fueled by illegal leaks." You don't often see prosecutors talking about criminal investigative targets' feelings. We didn't know the full contents of the report at that time, but we now know that his characterization of the report clearly did not reflect the scope of what it found.My full question wasn't picked up on the mic, but I asked Barr whether he was worried he was creating an "appearance of impropriety" by seemingly spinning the report before the public had the chance to read it. Justice Department ethics rules are big on making sure that things don't look improper. One recent example: DOJ's internal watchdog said last year that there was no evidence that former Attorney General Loretta Lynch had improper discussions with former President Clinton about the Hillary Clinton investigation during their infamous meeting on the tarmac at a Phoenix airport in June 2016. But they said she made an "error in judgment" by "failing to recognize the appearance problem" created by the visit.Barr's comments at the press conference created an appearance problem. But, as indicated by the one-word answer that brought an end to the presser, he didn't seem concerned by how the public might perceive his comments.What should readers take away from this week's Mueller news?I don't think any fair-minded reader could get through those 400-plus pages and walk away with the conclusion that the president's actions were aboveboard. There's just a ton of troubling behavior in there, actions that even many of Trump's own Republican hires found concerning. The Mueller report details how Trump "sought to use his official power outside of usual channels," and says he was unsuccessful in influencing the Mueller probe "largely because the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests."Mueller is a by-the-book guy, and the investigation takes into account the Justice Department's position that Trump couldn't be charged as a sitting president. That also meant that, under DOJ guidelines, he couldn't call Trump a criminal. But he got about as close to that line as he could, as illustrated by this extremely lawyerly mic-drop line: "If we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice, we would so state."Mueller did not so state.
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