Twitter exploded throughout Attorney General William Barr Bill BarrHarris faces pivotal moment with Supreme Court battle Hillicon Valley: DOJ proposes tech liability shield reform to Congress | Treasury sanctions individuals, groups tied to Russian malign influence activities | House Republican introduces bill to set standards for self-driving cars McCarthy threatens motion to oust Pelosi if she moves forward with impeachment MORE's press conference ahead of the release of special counsel Robert Mueller Robert (Bob) MuellerCNN's Toobin warns McCabe is in 'perilous condition' with emboldened Trump CNN anchor rips Trump over Stone while evoking Clinton-Lynch tarmac meeting The Hill's 12:30 Report: New Hampshire fallout MORE's report, with strong but varying reactions from members of the media.

Barr offered a staunch defense of President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE during the press conference, where he previewed the report's findings and explained why they led him to conclude that Trump had not obstructed justice.

ADVERTISEMENT

Barr called the report a vindication of Trump over the allegations of collusion with Russian officials to influence the 2016 election.

All of the top-trending hashtags on Twitter surrounded the Barr press conference and Mueller report on Thursday morning, with Barr's comments and media reaction to them dominating.

Barr is saying that the White House "fully cooperated" and repeating "no collusion" again and again just feels ... not great. — Benjamin Pauker (@benpauker) April 18, 2019

this is straight-up PR — John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) April 18, 2019

CNN has 8 people talking about this & they all vehemently agree with one another on every last thing. This has been a major part of the problem from the start. All humans are more likely to err or worse if they are insulated from challenge or dissent. It's inherently corrupting: pic.twitter.com/6U5aZqzgPn — Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) April 18, 2019

Barr says there are only light redactions of the report, says Congress will get an unredacted version of the report, and says he has no problem with Mueller testifying—and the media concludes that he is covering for Trump — Rich Lowry (@RichLowry) April 18, 2019

Watching AG Bill Barr's press conference.He is a true statesman, one of a very few in Washington these days. He is going by the book, regardless of the intense smears against him by the media & the Dems — Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) April 18, 2019

MEDIA: if you just run off and repeat what Barr says the report says ... SO HELP ME GOD. — Will Wilkinson (@willwilkinson) April 18, 2019

AG Barr has now said the words "no collusion" repeatedly. Reminder, this is not a legal term but it is a term that has been repeated over and over again by President Trump.



"There was no evidence of the Trump campaign collusion with the Russian government's hacking," Barr says. — Yamiche Alcindor (@Yamiche) April 18, 2019

Exclusive image of Bill Barr getting ready for press conference today while speaking to Trump on the phone . #TrumpColluded pic.twitter.com/i2EjiHycOW — (((DeanObeidallah))) (@DeanObeidallah) April 18, 2019

Barr is just repeating the "no collision" finding. He's already done it four times, by my count. — Eli Stokols (@EliStokols) April 18, 2019

Journalists who openly & giddily speculated about "collusion" for 2 yrs are now *horrified* the AG said "no collusion" half-a-dozen times in relaying findings of a probe they've covered breathlessly.



Almost as if they're processing personal disappointment over those findings. — Guy Benson (@guypbenson) April 18, 2019

The redacted Mueller report will be sent to Congress by CD-ROM at 11 a.m. Thursday.