Is The Mueller Report Being Hidden Like An Afikoman? MSNBC’s Ari Melber Thinks So
The largest half of the broken middle matzah is the afikomen. Image by iStock
Attorney General Bill Barr has announced that he will release Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report — albeit redacted — on Thursday, the day before both Passover and Good Friday. While musing on Tuesday over whether the White House is deliberately trying to stifle awareness of the report’s contents by releasing before major holidays, MSNBC anchor Ari Melber decided to have a little fun with Passover references.
“I’m wondering, heading into Passover, if you’re familiar with the tradition of hiding the akifoman. Are you?” Melber asked panelists Maya Wiley, John Flannery and Sam Nunberg.
Everyone shook their head yes, with former Trump aide Nunberg slightly more enthusiastic: “Yes, very familiar.”
Melber posed a question to the group: “Is the Mueller report, or sections of it, being treated like some afikoman that the Justice Department may be hiding? Is that the right thing? Should this report be hidden?”
Hiding the afikomen, or half of the middle piece of matzah, is a Passover tradition. During the ceremonial Seder meal, children typically run to look for the afikoman, which parents hide. A prize is given to whoever finds it, and then the Seder can continue.
Nunberg, who is Jewish, said he “love[d] the analogy” — but thinks that if the intention is to use the holiday weekend in hopes of burying the report, it will backfire.
“I’ve worked in many political campaigns and public advocacy campaigns and we always would release, including when I worked for Donald Trump, we would release news during holiday weekends because you would own that weekend,” Nunberg said. “If that was their intention [to bury it], it’s just going to backfire.”
Alyssa Fisher is a writer at the Forward. Email her at fisher@forward.com, or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
