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Mueller’s office says BuzzFeed report inaccurate

Posted at 8:47 PM, Jan 18, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-18 20:47:09-05

The special counsel’s office has issued a rare public statement disputing the accuracy of a news report saying that President Donald Trump told his personal attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress.

The statement by Robert Mueller’s office on Friday night doesn’t cite any specific errors.

Spokesman Peter Carr says, “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.”

Trump’s personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, also denied the president told his former legal fixer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress about the details of a business proposal in Russia.

Giuliani says in a statement that “Any suggestion— from any source— that the President counseled Michael Cohen to lie is categorically false.”

The report was based on information from two law enforcement officials with direct knowledge of special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. The officials are not named in the story.

The report says Cohen said Trump directed him to lie and investigators have additional documents and testimony backing that up.