Mueller's office disputes bombshell report on Trump's alleged involvement with Michael Cohen's testimony to Congress
- Special counsel Robert Mueller's office disputed a BuzzFeed News report that said Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's longtime attorney, was instructed by Trump to lie to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow deal.
- "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," spokesman Peter Carr said in a statement to INSIDER on Friday.
- BuzzFeed cited two unnamed law-enforcement sources in its story published Thursday night. The news outlet says it is "confident" in its reporting.
Special counsel Robert Mueller's office disputed a BuzzFeed News report that said Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's longtime attorney, was instructed by Trump to lie to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow deal.
"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," spokesman Peter Carr said in a statement to INSIDER.
Carr did not specify which claims were inaccurate; however, BuzzFeed News' sources reportedly said they learned of Trump's alleged dealings from multiple interviews with Trump Organization employees, internal emails, and text messages.
In response, BuzzFeed said "we are continuing to report and determine what the special counsel is disputing. We remain confident in the accuracy of our report."
BuzzFeed News reportedly reviewed some of the emails, including ones sent between Ivanka Trump - Trump's daughter and White House senior adviser - and Cohen. In the emails, Ivanka reportedly appeared angry after Cohen turned down her referral of a Russian associate for the Trump Tower Moscow project.
The BuzzFeed story prompted reactions across the political spectrum on Friday, and reignited some Democrats' calls for impeachment, citing the possibility that instructing someone to lie to Congress would amount to obstruction of justice.
The scuttled Trump Tower Moscow deal is part of Mueller's probe in a broader examination of Russia's interference in the 2016 US presidential election, and whether the Trump campaign worked with the Kremlin to sway the election in Trump's favor.
Sarah Gray contributed reporting.