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Mueller Disputes Report Trump Told Cohen to Lie

Mueller Disputes Report Trump Told Cohen to Lie
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By The Associated Press
Jan. 18, 2019 | WASHINGTON
By The Associated Press Jan. 18, 2019 | 11:34 AM | WASHINGTON
Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office on Friday issued a rare public statement disputing the accuracy of BuzzFeed News’ report that said President Donald Trump’s former attorney told Mueller that the president directed him to lie to Congress.

BuzzFeed, citing two unidentified law enforcement officials, reported that Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about a Moscow real estate project and that Cohen told Mueller the president personally instructed him to lie about the timing of the deal. 

The statement by Mueller’s office on Friday night doesn’t cite any specific errors. In it, the special counsel’s spokesman, Peter Carr, said, “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.”

BuzzFeed spokesman Matt Mittenthal said the publication stands by its reporting and urged readers to “stay tuned” as they worked to determine what Mueller was denying. Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News, also said the publication stands by its reporting and the sources who informed it.

“We urge the special counsel to make clear what he’s disputing,” Smith said.

Immediately after the special counsel’s statement was issued, Trump retweeted several posts that called the story fake news.

The extraordinary statement from Mueller’s office came after Democrats had vowed to investigate whether the report was true, calling that possibility a “concern of the greatest magnitude.” 


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The Democratic chairmen of two House committees pledged Friday to investigate a report that President Donald Trump directed his personal attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations over a Moscow real estate project during the 2016 election.

The report by BuzzFeed News comes as House Democrats have promised a thorough look into Trump's ties to Russia, and as special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Russia's meddling in the 2016 election and contacts with the Trump campaign.

A White House spokesman did not specifically deny the report, but Trump, in a tweet, accused Cohen, who has cooperated with Mueller, of lying.

BuzzFeed, citing two unnamed law enforcement officials, said Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress and that Cohen regularly briefed Trump and his family on the Trump Tower project in Moscow — even as Trump said he had no business dealings with Russia. BuzzFeed said Cohen told Mueller that Trump personally instructed him to lie about the timing of the project in order to obscure Trump's involvement.

BuzzFeed said Mueller's investigators learned about Trump's directive "through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents." The report says that Cohen then acknowledged Trump's instructions when he was interviewed by the Mueller team.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said "we will do what's necessary to find out" if the report was true. He said the allegation that Trump directed Cohen to lie in his 2017 testimony to Congress "in an effort to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among the most serious to date."

Calling the allegations a "counterintelligence concern of the greatest magnitude," Schiff said his committee had already been working to secure witness testimony and documents related to the Moscow Trump Tower deal.

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Rep. Jerrold Nadler of New York, said directing a subordinate to lie to Congress is a federal crime. "The @HouseJudiciary Committee's job is to get to the bottom of it, and we will do that work," Nadler tweeted.

On Twitter Friday morning, Trump charged that Cohen is "Lying to reduce his jail time!" even though Cohen has already been sentenced.

Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying to Congress to cover up that he was negotiating the Trump Tower project in Moscow on Trump's behalf during the heat of his presidential campaign. The charge was brought by Mueller and was the result of Cohen's cooperation with that probe.

He was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes that included arranging the payment of hush money to conceal his boss' alleged sexual affairs, telling a judge that he agreed time and again to cover up Trump's "dirty deeds" out of "blind loyalty."

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told Fox News Channel that taking the BuzzFeed story seriously was "absolutely ludicrous," but he repeatedly refused to deny the central allegation that Trump directed Cohen to lie.

The Associated Press has not independently confirmed the BuzzFeed report.

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