Imagine

"I have known Bob Mueller for 30 years," Barr said Tuesday. "We worked closely together throughout my previous tenure at the Department of Justice under President Bush. We've been friends since. And I have the utmost respect for Bob and his distinguished record of public service. And when he was named special counsel, I said his selection was 'good news' and that, knowing him, I had confidence he would handle the matter properly. And I still have that confidence today."

[...]

President Donald Trump was startled Tuesday as he watched television coverage of his nominee for attorney general describing a warm relationship with the special counsel Robert Mueller in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, according to three people familiar with the matter.

[...]

Later, Trump privately rationalized the relationship between Barr and Mueller as stemming from both having worked in the Washington legal establishment for years, according to one of the people.

  CNN

OK, but that doesn't make sense if the following statement by Barr is true:

During the first day of his confirmation hearing, William Barr described telling the President the first time he met him in June 2017 that he was friends with Mueller, referring to him on a first name basis.

"I told him how well I knew Bob Mueller and that the Barrs and Muellers were good friends and would be good friends when this was all over," Barr said. "Bob is a straight-shooter and should be dealt with as such."

How could Trump then be startled by what he saw on TV?

While Barr said during his hearing that Trump "was interested" in hearing about the friendship, the details that emerged this week caught the President off guard, the three sources said. He bristled at Barr's description of the close relationship, complaining to aides he didn't realize how much their work overlapped or that they were so close.

The only answer I can imagine - and I think it's a pretty good one - is that he wasn't paying attention when Barr was telling him that he was friends with Mueller.

Surely by morning there will be a presidential tweet calling this report fake news.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.