Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office on Jan. 18, said it was disputing a report from BuzzFeed News that claimed President Donald Trump had directed his former lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about the timing of talks for a Trump Tower project in Moscow.
“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 a rare statement from the special counsel.
The BuzzFeed report claimed that Mueller’s office learned of Trump’s alleged instructions to Cohen through internal Trump Organization emails, witness interviews, text messages, and other documents, and that Cohen told prosecutors about the directive in an interview.
Mueller’s spokesman disputed portions of the BuzzFeed story that appeared to go to the heart of the allegations made against Trump.
It is the first time Mueller has commented about a news article concerning his probe of Russia’s alleged meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith has since released a statement saying: “We stand by the reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the Special Counsel to make clear what he’s disputing.”
Earlier on Jan. 18, the White House said the story was false. “Look, that’s absolutely ridiculous,” spokeswoman Sarah Sanders told reporters. Trump’s current lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, called it “fake news.” He added that any suggestion that Trump encouraged Cohen to lie is “categorically false.”
The statement was exceptional given that Mueller’s team rarely comments about news reports.
“They are making a public comment to tell everyone to calm down,” David Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor, said. “He doesn’t want people to think his silence is confirming the truthfulness of the report.”
Trump said on Twitter on Dec. 13, that Cohen made up a story to get less prison time.
The president added, “Those charges were just agreed to by him in order to embarrass the president and get a much-reduced prison sentence, which he did-including the fact that his family was temporarily let off the hook. As a lawyer, Michael has great liability to me!”
Donald Trump Jr., who was mentioned in the BuzzFeed report, wrote on Twitter that he is challenging the media to devote equal time to covering the Mueller team’s dispute of the BuzzFeed report.
Cohen will be testifying to Senate Intelligence Committee investigators behind closed doors in February.
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