Buzzfeed's "Trump Directed Michael Cohen to Lie to Congress" Report

Overview

Buzzfeed's "Trump Directed Michael Cohen to Lie to Congress" Report was published in January 2019 and alleged that President Trump directed specific subordinates to lie to Congress, which is a crime. In a rare statement, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office released a rare statement disputing the report. BuzzFeed has stated that they stand by their reporting.

Background

On January 18th, 2019, BuzzFeed ^[1] reported that President Trump had directed his attorney Michael Cohen to like to Congress about a project to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, the first piece of evidence that he instructed his subordinates to lie about Russian dealings. Additionally, the report details Trump's support of a plan to visit Russia and meet with Putin during the 2016 presidential campaign, a time when Trump repeatedly said he had no business deals in Russia. However, his children, Ivanka and Donald Jr received updates on the project from Cohen. BuzzFeed reports:

Two sources have told BuzzFeed News that Cohen also told the special counsel that after the election, the president personally instructed him to lie -- by claiming that negotiations ended months earlier than they actually did -- in order to obscure Trump’s involvement.

The special counsel’s office learned about Trump’s directive for Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents. Cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his interviews with that office.

Developments

Online Reaction

Online, that day, many noted that if the report is true, it could amount to "high crimes," including conspiracy and suborning perjury. Atlantic writer Adam Serwer tweeted, ^[2] "If the story is correct, Trump told everyone Russia was innocent of a cyber attack on the opposition party while pursuing financial gain in Moscow, lied about it, and then personally directed his attorney to lie about it too. That’s not just collusion. That is conspiracy." The tweet received more than 3,900 retweet and 10,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left).

Daily Beast writer Justin Miller quoted William Barr, Trump's pick for attorney general. He wrote,^[3] "'If a President…suborns perjury, or induces a witness to change testimony, or commits any act deliberately impairing the integrity of available evidence, then he, like anyone else, commits the crime of obstruction.'-- William Barr." The tweet received more than 8,100 retweets and 18,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, center).

Representative Adam Schiff tweeted,^[4] "The allegation that the President of the United States may have suborned perjury before our committee in an effort to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among the most serious to date. We will do what’s necessary to find out if it’s true." The tweet received more than 20,000 retweets and 64,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Special Counsel's Response

On January 18th, Peter Carr, a spokesperson of the Special Counsel's office, disputed the report. He 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."

That day, BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith tweeted,^[5] "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." The tweet received more than 10,000 retweets and 39,000 likes in three days (shown below).

On January 20th, Smith and the report's co-author Anthony Cormier appeared on CNN to defend the report.^[6] Cormier said, "I have further confirmation that this is right. We’re being told to stand our ground. Our reporting is going to be borne out to be accurate, and we’re 100 percent behind it. I can’t talk about the timing about when we’ve spoken to people. But I can tell you that, yes, indeed the same sources that we used in that story are standing behind it ― as are we."

“We are eager to understand which characterizations Mueller is talking about there, and obviously we take that incredibly seriously,” BuzzFeed editor-in-chief @BuzzFeedBen says about the special counsel’s office reacting to their reporting. https://t.co/rejBGLYLqC pic.twitter.com/cSxZROxEX0

— Reliable Sources (@ReliableSources) January 20, 2019

BuzzFeed reporter @a_cormier_ on his story: “I have further confirmation that this is right. We are being told to stand our ground … The same sources that we used in that story are standing behind it, as are we.” https://t.co/rejBGLYLqC pic.twitter.com/Oe3yz5G0Dk

— Reliable Sources (@ReliableSources) January 20, 2019

White House Response

On January 18th, President Trump attacked the report, referencing the Steele Dossier, much of which has since been corroborated.^[8] In a tweet,^[9] he wrote, "Remember it was Buzzfeed that released the totally discredited 'Dossier,' paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton and the Democrats (as opposition research), on which the entire Russian probe is based! A very sad day for journalism, but a great day for our Country!" The tweet received more than 38,000 retweets and 143,000 likes in two days (shown below).

President Trump's attorney Rudy Giuliani said that it might be true but that it would have been "perfectly normal" if it had.^[7] On CNN, he said, "So what? As far as I know, President Trump did not have discussions with him. Certainly, no discussions with him in which he told him or counseled him to lie."

However, that day, on Meet The Press, Giuliani denied the story, stating that he was "100% certain" that the president never directed Cohen to lie (shown below).

Cohen Memo

On April 4th, 2019, Michael Cohen's lawyer sent a 12-page memo to House Democrats stating that Cohen had been instructed by the president to lie to lawmakers about the Trump Tower Russia project.^[10] The memo supports early reports that BuzzFeed News made in January 2019 in which they stated that Trump had directed Cohen to lie. The memos states:

When Cohen had to submit testimony to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees in the fall of 2017, Trump and his [White House] advisors encouraged Cohen to lie and say all Moscow Tower project contacts ended as of January 31, 2016 using ‘code’ language -- telling Cohen during various conversations that there was ‘no collusion, no Russian contacts, nothing about Russia’ after the start of the campaign.’

Furthermore, the document continues to confirm BuzzFeed's reporting, writing "this is not far off the words used by the BuzzFeed reporters -- that Trump 'directed Cohen to lie in his congressional testimony vs. false statements to Congress, i.e., there were no Russian contacts after January 31st, 2016."

That day, Cohen sent a letter to House Democrats offering information in exchange for a reduced prison sentence or possibly avoid prison entirely. In the letter, he offers "substantial files on a hard drive that might be helpful to investigators."^[11] One such hard drive contains more than 14 million important files, consisting of "emails voice recordings, images and attachments from Mr. Cohen's computers and phones."

Response to the news was mixed. MSNBC host Chris Hayes called^[12] the letter "ludicrously shady even by Michael Cohen and Trumpworld standards." The post received more than 495 retweets and 2,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left). Republican House Representative Jim Jordan tweeted,^[13] "We asked @AdamSchiff to see Michael Cohen’s testimony in front of his committee. No answer! But Schiff wants the AG to release the entire Mueller report, including classified info. Double standard again!" The tweet received more than 7,300 retweets and 19,000 likes in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References