Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office issued a rare statement Friday disputing a report from BuzzFeed News that President Trump had told his former lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress.
“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,” special counsel spokesman Peter Carr said in a statement to BuzzFeed released on Friday night.
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UPDATE: A spokesperson for the special counsel is disputing BuzzFeed News’ report. https://t.co/BEoMKiDypn pic.twitter.com/GWWfGtyhaE
— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) January 19, 2019
Mueller’s office rarely comments on stories related to the special counsel’s investigation into potential collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.
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- Discussion
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#BREAKING: In rare move, Special counsel disputes bombshell report that Trump told Cohen to lie to Congress https://t.co/gVyZPpk9TQ pic.twitter.com/NOYRhuUqxl
— The Hill (@thehill) January 19, 2019
In response to the statement tonight from the Special Counsel's spokesman: We stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the Special Counsel to make clear what he's disputing.
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) January 19, 2019
The statement from Mueller’s shop is interestingly worded, simultaneously a narrow and broad denial. “Description of specific statements” is a very narrow denial. But “characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office” feels much broader.
— Sonny Bunch (@SonnyBunch) January 19, 2019
FWIW my take as a former government spokesman: the statement from the Special Counsel's office tonight is not a full-throated denial of the @BuzzFeed story, but a way of saying to the public: "the arc of the story has merit but we disagree with the nuance."
— George Little (@georgelittledc) January 19, 2019
I wondered about this, too: was SCO saying “we aren’t saying the report is wrong, we’re saying it wasn’t us and we don’t have this stuff”? https://t.co/2BUBkiMoLi
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) January 19, 2019
Who could have possibly predicted that a "bombshell" from a journalist who's a notorious and well-documented fabulist and fabricator (and who's appeared on RT) would turn out to be bullshit?
When SCO has to publicly call you out, you and your outlet need to reassess your lives.
— John Schindler (@20committee) January 19, 2019
Funny to see the Trump cult claiming vindication off of yesterday's vague Muller disputing of Buzzfeed story, given that they have spent the last two years both claiming everything Mueller has done is a witch hunt and seeing one thing after another that they denied come true.
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) January 19, 2019
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