White House, DOJ officials have discussed Mueller report details: report

White House lawyers and Department of Justice officials have already discussed details from special counsel Robert Mueller’s conclusions as Washington awaits the release of his redacted report, The New York Times reported Wednesday.

The two sides have had “numerous conversations,” according to the newspaper, which said the talks have allowed President Trump’s legal team to begin prepping a response to the report.

The president’s aides plan to divide up the Mueller report and develop a rebuttal strategy, the Times reported. The full document is expected to total more than 400 pages.

{mosads}Trump’s legal team is expected to release a lengthy response to Mueller’s report that rebuts any potentially damaging information.

Attorney General William Barr has scheduled a 9:30 a.m. press conference for Thursday morning to discuss the Mueller report’s release.

Trump has suggested that he may hold his own press conference after that.

A Department of Justice spokeswoman declined to comment, while the White House and Trump attorney Jay Sekulow did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

Washington, D.C., has feverishly anticipated Mueller’s full report in the weeks since Barr released a four-page summary of the special counsel’s findings. 

Barr wrote that Mueller did not conclude the Trump campaign had conspired with the Russian government and that the special counsel neither exonerated nor implicated the president on obstruction of justice.

Democrats have pressed for the full report and the underlying evidence Mueller used to formulate his conclusions, arguing that Barr is a political appointee who could not be trusted to give a full accounting. Reports that the Justice Department spoke with the White House ahead of the report’s release are likely to intensify those criticisms from Democrats.

Trump and his allies have seized on Barr’s initial findings to declare “total exoneration,” downplaying concerns that Mueller’s full report will contain more damaging information. Barr has said he would not redact information to protect Trump’s reputation, only to shield possible grand jury or classified information.

Trump has in recent days continued to rail against the special counsel and suggest those who initiated the investigation into his campaign should face consequences.

“The Mueller Report, which was written by 18 Angry Democrats who also happen to be Trump Haters (and Clinton Supporters), should have focused on the people who SPIED on my 2016 Campaign, and others who fabricated the whole Russia Hoax,” he tweeted Tuesday.

The president said last week he has not seen the Mueller report but in an interview Wednesday with WMAL said he expected to see “a lot of very strong things come out.”

“[Barr’s] been a fantastic attorney general. He’s grabbed it by the horn,” Trump told Larry O’Connor.