Special Counsel’s Spokesman: Buzzfeed’s Description Of Cohen’s Testimony ‘Not Accurate’

Special Counsel Robert Mueller

A spokesman for Special Counsel Robert Mueller has made a rare statement regarding the bombshell report by Buzzfeed alleging Donald Trump instructed his lawyer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress.

This evening, spokesman Peter Carr issued a statement saying, “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.”

UPDATE: The special counsel’s office has taken the rare step of issuing a statement in response to our report on Michael Cohen being directed by Trump to lie to Congress:https://t.co/WA2fZcdK9u pic.twitter.com/PY1r9LxDid

— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) January 19, 2019

To be clear: Mueller is not disputing that Cohen says Trump told him to lie. He’s disputing the line about corroborating evidence taken from Trump Org emails, texts, etc. Still a huge deal. But not a total refutation. In fact, Cohen’s 11/30 memo says Trump directed him to lie.

— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) January 19, 2019

I can’t speak to Buzzfeed’s sourcing, but, for what it’s worth, I declined to run with parts of the narrative they conveyed based on a source central to the story repeatedly disputing the idea that Trump directly issued orders of that kind.

— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) January 19, 2019

I’m totally calm about this.

The Mueller statement talks about the *characterization* being wrong, not the content. This isn’t a sweeping “no.”

They *declined comment* on the front end and issued a wordsmithed statement.

Breathe.— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 19, 2019

This is the most scrutinized political scandal in American history by a mile. If you think the reporters and editors at Buzzfeed didn’t throughly comb through every detail of this scoop numerous times, you are sorely mistaken.

Mueller’s office is nitpicking to calm down Trump.— Charlotte Clymer🏳️‍🌈 (@cmclymer) January 19, 2019

One of the Buzzfeed reporters responded to the statement: “We are very confident in our reporting…”

“We have seen documents. We have been briefed on documents. We are very confident in our reporting,” BuzzFeed News reporter Jason Leopold, who co-wrote bombshell new report, says. pic.twitter.com/5RXOx8rvo0— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 18, 2019