Special Council makes rare statement casting doubt on BuzzFeed News' Cohen report

RFE/RL
Sat, 19 Jan 2019 00:25 UTC

© Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call; Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images

Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and President Donald Trump

Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office has disputed a report in BuzzFeed News that U.S. President Donald Trump directed his former lawyer to lie to Congress about a real estate project in Moscow as Congressional Democrats vowed to investigate allegations.

In a first for the Mueller investigation, the Special Counsel's Office commented on a media report, saying in a January 18 statement that the allegations, based on two unnamed law enforcement sources, were not "accurate."

"BuzzFeed's description of specific statements to the Special Counsel's Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen's Congressional testimony are not accurate," Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller's office, said in the statement, though he did not say the entire article was wrong.

BuzzFeed said in a statement that it was standing by its reporting and urged the Special Counsel "to make clear what he's disputing."

The White House has called the allegations "categorically false," but leading Democrat lawmakers said the possibility the report is true was a "concern of the greatest magnitude" and would seek an inquiry into the matter.

"These allegations may prove unfounded, but, if true, they would constitute both the subornation of perjury as well as obstruction of justice," California Republican Adam Schiff, House intelligence committee chairman, said in a statement. "We will do what's necessary to find out if it's true," he added.

BuzzFeed News reported on January 17 that Trump told Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations over the Moscow project during the 2016 campaign. The report, which quotes the two law enforcement officials "with direct knowledge of the investigation" into the project, has not been independently confirmed.

The allegations put Trump further at risk in an investigation that has already resulted in convictions of or guilty pleas from four former campaign aides, including ex-campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

Trump tweeted that Cohen was "lying to reduce his jail time," although Cohen has already been sentenced to three years for a number of political and financial crimes that came to light through the Special Counsel investigation by Robert Mueller.

Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, said in a statement that any suggestion that Trump told Cohen to lie is "categorically false."

Some Senate Intelligence Committee investigators have said they hope to ask Cohen about the BuzzFeed report when he testifies behind closed doors in February, Reuters reported.

Comment: What a ruckus this has raised!

More from RT 1/19/2019:

While half of Congress took to Twitter to wave the story as the long-awaited proof of Collusion, the BuzzFeed reporters could not seem to agree on their own sourcing. Anthony Cormier admitted to CNN he hadn't seen the proof directly but had two "law enforcement" sources claiming they had seen it, while Jason Leopold told MSNBC they had in fact seen the documents themselves.

Mueller has been extremely tight-lipped about the numerous previous "Russiagate" scoops, and considering the time and effort involved in his own ongoing crusade to take Trump down, his dismissal of BuzzFeed's would-be bombshell knocked the legs out from under a story whose vague sourcing had already raised questions. Mueller's laconic smackdown has led many on Twitter to declare BuzzFeed officially discredited.

RT reports 1/19/2019:

RT reports 1/19/2019:

After the "bombshell" was picked up (to a great extent uncritically) by the mainstream media, which floated impeachment through a legion of ever-ready pundits, the scoop was busted by the office of Special Counsel Robert Mueller himself.

Conservative political columnist Ann Coulter, Trump's son Donald Junior, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, and NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch all tore into BuzzFeed, along with thousands of less high-profile Trump supporters, getting the #RIPBuzzfeed hashtag going.

Facing a torrent of mockery and derision, BuzzFeed chose to stand by its claims. BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith called on Mueller to clarify what exactly he had denied. "We stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it," he tweeted.

Some mainstream media, like the Washington Post and the New York Times, have been pouring cold water on the report (using unnamed sources of their own).

MSNBC's Chris Matthews argued that the fact the report is inaccurate "does not mean it is not true," while NBC's Ken Dilanian said Mueller denied only that part of the report that said he had obtained Trump organization documents supporting the allegations.

Dilanian, however, later admitted that he "was interpreting the pushback too narrowly."

The Washington Post shared that sentiment, reporting that Mueller's statement "aims to make clear that none of those statements in the story are accurate," while citing "people familiar with the matter."

The New York Times also debunked the story, citing a person familiar with Cohen's testimony, who told them that the disgraced former lawyer "never implied the president had pressured him to lie to Congress."

While multiple outlets were busy distancing themselves from the red-faced BuzzFeed, lone voices from the anti-Trump resistance crowd, almost drowned out by the avalanche of mockery, jumped to its defense.

Some suggested that the zeal with which the mainstream media ganged up on BuzzFeed is a clumsy attempt to save face.

And, The Daily Caller 1/18/2019 had this:

CNN and MSNBC collectively used the word "impeach" nearly 200 times on Friday before the Special Counsel's office disputed a bombshell report by BuzzFeed News.

According to a Daily Caller review of TV clipping service Grabien, personalities on CNN and MSNBC used the words "Impeach," "Impeachment," or "Impeachable," 179 times.

The review included only original Friday programming and ran up until each network learned that BuzzFeed's report was in dispute - shortly before 8 pm.

CNN mentioned impeachment 82 times while MSNBC mentioned it a whopping 97 times.

While some anchors and pundits hedged that the BuzzFeed story could only lead to impeachment proceedings "if true," others repeated the story more uncritically and suggested that the president would be forced to resign and might even face obstruction of justice charges.

MSNBC's Katy Tur, for example, stated at the top of her show that "Donald Trump is facing the most damming report to date for his presidency. A story that could lead to his impeachment."

Both outlets also interviewed a number of Democratic congresspeople to get their thoughts on the possibility of impeachment of the president. CNN's Wolf Blitzer, for example, spoke to Democratic Rep. Jim Himes about the implications of the BuzzFeed report if it turned out to be verified, while MSNBC host Chris Matthews brought on Democratic Rep. Ted Lieu.

Matthews was perhaps the most eager cable television host to prop up BuzzFeed's report, even insisting after the Special Counsel's office's statement that, "not accurate ... it doesn't mean it's not true."

BuzzFeed's story, dependent on two anonymous sources, alleged that former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was directed by President Donald Trump to lie about business deals in Moscow during the 2016 presidential campaign.

A spokesperson for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team disputed the crux of the report within 24 hours of its publication, stating, "BuzzFeed's description of specific statements to the Special Counsel's Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen's Congressional testimony are not accurate."

See also: BuzzFeed 'reports' Trump "personally instructed" Cohen to lie to Congress about Moscow project - UDATE: Buzzfeed story completely discredited