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But President Donald Trump and his team are taking no chances, assuring themselves that they will have the opportunity to reverse the special council's findings before the country sees them on their own.
Trump announced Wednesday that his Attorney General, William Barr, will hold a press conference on the report Thursday at 9:30. Officials said the report would not be released in Congress until Mr. Barr's appearance around 11 am ET. And Trump said that he could well follow up with his own press conference, as part of what appears to be a clear effort to consolidate the public's first public perceptions of this report.
The consultations helped Trump's legal team prepare his defense against the report, in anticipation of the political confrontation that should develop over its content, the newspaper said.
The Democrats quickly made it known that Barr would speak before the report was presented to Congress, which would give the Attorney General a considerable advantage and condemned the consultations that would have taken place between the White House and the Department of Justice.
"Rather than letting the facts of the report speak for themselves, the Attorney General has taken unprecedented steps to conduct Mueller's investigation for almost two years," said Wednesday the chairman of the commission. Democratic House, Jerrold Nadler.
"That's wrong, that goes against what the Attorney General said to the committee."
Nadler later joined four other presidents of Democratic committees to demand that Barr cancel his planned press conference, calling it "unnecessary and inappropriate." Committee Chairs Oppose Department of Justice Who Would Have Informed the White House of Mueller's Work Before Congress
The highlights of Wednesday night have compounded political tensions in anticipation of a historic day in US political history.
The plan of the administration seems to be Barr's latest attempt to position the political speech on the report – which he has seen and which the public and Congress have not seen – in favor of the president .
He also concluded that there was insufficient evidence to show that Trump had obstructed justice after Mueller had decided not to make a final decision on the matter in his report.
But since Barr has not yet published the report or the underlying evidence, it is impossible for third parties to judge whether his description is correct and correct.
The report may fully support Barr and reveal that the Democrats' complaints about the release process are unjustified. But Wednesday's events have significantly increased pressure on the Attorney General and jeopardized his reputation as a neutral arbiter of justice.
Barr's decision to hold a press conference may also make comparisons with the decision of former FBI director James Comey to appear before the cameras to explain his decision not to accuse Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton for his private mail server. Comey, who was later fired by Trump, nonetheless strongly criticized Clinton, prompting him to be accused of interfering with the political process.
Trump happy with the Attorney General's "fantastic"
Trump, who was inspired by Barr's comments that he was totally "exonerated" by Mueller, spent the day before the report was released attacking the Mueller probe and triggering his rebuttal.
"You will see a lot of very strong things coming out tomorrow," Trump told WMAL's "Larry O & Connor Show" show.
"Attorney General Barr is going to give a press conference and maybe I'll do a lecture afterwards.We'll see, but he was a fantastic Attorney General, he caught him by the horns," Trump said.
The Department of Justice later stated that it was Barr's decision, not the president, that Barr hold a press conference.
The Attorney General will be accompanied by his deputy – Rod Rosenstein, the elusive figure who initiated and oversaw the special advocate's investigation.
A source familiar with the plans said Barr would provide a snapshot of the report, explain his thinking and deal with issues related to the process.
If Congress does not receive the report before Barr's appearance, it is unlikely that the reporters will see a copy either, which means that Barr would be free to give an undisputed assessment of what Mueller concluded.
Barr's credibility on the line
The theaters of the administration are questioning not only the credibility of Barr, but all hope that the handling of the Mueller report by the administration will finally solve the nightmare that still surrounds the 2016 election.
The Times report on White House-Justice Department contacts does not solve this problem.
"It bothers me a lot because it's the latest unseemly development between Attorney General Barr and the President," Allen Allen, Philip Allen Lacovara, a former attorney for special prosecutors at Watergate, told CNN.
Journalists will have no chance to question or hear the special advocate himself, since Mueller's spokesman said the former FBI director would not not at the press conference.
Mr. Barr spent several weeks drafting sections of the Mueller report that cite grand jury evidence, contain classified information or deal with ongoing court cases.
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