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Special Counsel Robert Mueller SIPA USA/PA Images

Robert Mueller disputes BuzzFeed article that claimed Trump ordered Cohen to lie to Congress

The report said Trump ordered Michael Cohen to lie about a Russian skyscraper project they pursued during the 2016 election.

SPECIAL COUNSEL ROBERT Mueller’s office took the rare step Friday of disputing a news report on his Russia investigation, saying a BuzzFeed article alleging that US President Donald Trump directed his former lawyer to lie to Congress is “not accurate”. 

Trump’s lieutenants had already strongly pushed back against the report, which said that the president ordered Michael Cohen to lie about a Russian skyscraper project they pursued during the 2016 election.

“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.

Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 vote and possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Moscow is the subject of frequent articles and even more frequent speculation.

But it is extremely rare – if not unprecedented – for Mueller’s office to issue such a statement.

BuzzFeed’s editor-in-chief, however, said the news organization stood by its work.

“We stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the Special Counsel to make clear what he’s disputing,” Ben Smith tweeted.

The statement was nevertheless a cause for celebration for the president, who retweeted numerous supporters slamming BuzzFeed and later wrote it was “A very sad day for journalism, but a great day for our Country!”

“Fake News is truly the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!” he added, a now familiar refrain when talking about critical media.

Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani had earlier called the allegation in the BuzzFeed report “categorically false” in a comment sent to several White House reporters, while Deputy White House Spokesman Hogan Gidley labelled the report “ridiculous.” He said Cohen is someone “who now quite frankly has been proven to be a liar.”

Democrats in Congress had pledged to investigate the report to see if the president had committed an impeachable felony.

“These allegations may prove unfounded, but, if true, they would constitute both the subornation of perjury as well as obstruction of justice,” said Adam Schiff, the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.

BuzzFeed reported late Thursday that Cohen, who worked for Trump for more than a decade, has told investigators that the president personally instructed him to lie about the Moscow Trump Tower plan in testimony in 2017 to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. 

The BuzzFeed article was based on interviews with two anonymous “federal law enforcement officials” who are familiar with Cohen’s testimony to the investigation led by Mueller.

“Any suggestion – from any source – that the president counselled Michael Cohen to lie is categorically false. Michael Cohen is a convicted criminal and a liar,” Giuliani said in a statement quoted by New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman.

“Lying to reduce his jail time!” Trump said on Twitter of Cohen, who was convicted last year of fraud and perjury.

A plea deal 

No other media have confirmed BuzzFeed’s reporting.

It came two months after Cohen pleaded guilty in a New York court to making “false, fictitious and fraudulent” written testimony to the House and Senate intelligence committees in August 2017 in connection with the Moscow project.

A statement of the facts in his November 29 plea deal with Mueller’s prosecutors suggested that his testimony had been prepared in consultation with unnamed people in the White House.

Cohen had told the two committees that the Moscow project talks ended in January 2016, when in fact, as he later admitted, they went on at least six months longer, to June 2016 when Trump had already secured the Republican nomination for president.

Cohen had also testified that others in the campaign, including Trump, were not informed about the project.

But in the November plea deal, Cohen also admitted the project had been discussed with Trump — designated “Individual 1″ in court documents — several times in early 2016.

“Cohen made the false statements to minimize links between the Moscow project and Individual 1… in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations,” prosecutors wrote.

 Trump’s right-hand man 

Cohen was the president’s right-hand man for years at the Trump Organization, the umbrella company, often relied upon to quietly fix difficult problems and negotiate deals for the real estate mogul.

But he turned on his former boss after he was charged with giving hush money to women alleging affairs with Trump ahead of the 2016 election — payments that violated campaign finance laws.

Cohen, who has been sentenced to three years in jail, said Trump ordered him to make the payments, and now says he regrets his work for the president. 

While Democrats could not confirm the BuzzFeed report, they said they were poised to further probe the allegations.

“Our committee is already working to secure additional witness testimony and documents related to the Trump Tower Moscow deal and other investigative matters,” said Intelligence Committee chairman Schiff.

© – AFP 2019 

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    Mute Motherofthree
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    Aug 5th 2019, 8:04 AM

    Beautiful building I hope it’s developed wisely

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    Mute Kerrydone
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    Aug 6th 2019, 12:46 AM

    @Motherofthree: i’d say An Taisce and Dublin Civic Trust will have a field day on this planning application! The developers better have a world class conservation team working for them!

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    Mute Nick
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    Aug 5th 2019, 8:15 AM

    Beautiful facade hope it’s preserved…

    132
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    Mute Caroline Elbay
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    Aug 5th 2019, 8:47 AM

    ‘Plans for the site include 1400 apartments… with more than 100 homes…’ is there not a huge discrepancy with this statement, or are apartments not considered to be ‘homes’? Moreover, it would serve the community better in the long term to build affordable housing that people can actually purchase rather than ‘build-to-rent’ thus perpetuating the phenomena of greedy corporate Landlordism by foreign investment funds.

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    Mute Peadar Mindyourownbuisness
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    Aug 5th 2019, 10:03 AM

    @Caroline Elbay: they mean that because there are 1400 homes planned, which is above 100, the application can be submitted to ABP ,rather than the local authority

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    Mute Lionheart1
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    Aug 5th 2019, 10:09 AM

    @Caroline Elbay: What about rent to buy?

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    Mute noah tall
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    Aug 5th 2019, 12:42 PM

    @Caroline Elbay: it means as it’s over 100 homes the application can be sent straight to ABP. Look before you leap!

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    Mute thomas walsh
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    Aug 5th 2019, 4:53 PM

    @Lionheart1: that’s a mortgage

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    Mute Kerrydone
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    Aug 6th 2019, 1:10 AM

    @Caroline Elbay: agree re foreign funds but still think there is a place for build to rent as long as it’s affordable, and more importantly, properly managed/maintained. The failure of many social housing developments has been the lack of maintenance by local authorities, so the fact this would be managed by a private company is actually a positive in my view. The bother is, this proper maintenance won’t be cheap, and therefore I can’t see the BTR prices here being very affordable.

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    Mute Whoswho
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    Aug 5th 2019, 9:16 AM

    It would be good to have some history kept in the our country rather than bulldoze every deteriorating building

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    Mute Joey Casey
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    Aug 5th 2019, 10:05 AM

    Probably the same people that complain about the housing crisis, now dont want apartments built in their back yard.
    1400 new apartments are badly needed. But please build up high in the city!

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    Mute Boris Becker
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    Aug 5th 2019, 10:50 AM

    @Joey Casey: badly needed yes….but affordable, somehow I doubt these will be for the average joe

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    Mute sVRCsaSg
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:34 AM

    @Boris Becker: you know what would make them more affordable? – a huge increase in supply of properties.

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    Mute Sean
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    Aug 6th 2019, 8:02 AM

    @Joey Casey: I didn’t hear anyone saying they didn’t want them built – just that the facade of the building was worth maintaining similar to what happened with the recent Boland Mills development.

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    Mute Boris Becker
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    Aug 5th 2019, 9:23 AM

    “Vultures Please”….Feck off (built to rent) shameful if this is allowed to happen

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    Mute Robert Flood
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    Aug 5th 2019, 10:17 AM

    It’s a fine structure that represents a profit making institution that gained at our expense which the health system and our taxes are still paying for. I say obliterate it and return the land to the people with a majority of social housing.

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    Mute Peter D W Clancy
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:00 AM

    @Robert Flood: Will our taxes pay for the social housing too?

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    Mute Nick
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:22 AM

    @Robert Flood: sounds like a dictat. “return” it to the people… Did they ever own it?

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    Mute Darren Bates
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:39 AM

    @Robert Flood: oh give it a rest. I’m a massive anti-smoking advocate but we can’t knock down a beautiful building just because cigarettes were made there once upon a time.

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    Mute Darren
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:17 AM

    That’s a great location for workers wanting to live in the city, I don’t see much social housing coming of it but 1400 apartment developments are what we need in around the city centre.

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    Mute Bryen O Murchu
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    Aug 5th 2019, 12:53 PM

    Apartments in an Irish context are the slums of the future be careful what you ask for

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    Mute Mick Scanlan
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:32 AM

    The Product made in that building killed thousands of irish people. Bulldoze it .

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    Mute Bilbo Baggins
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    Aug 5th 2019, 11:53 AM

    @Mick Scanlan: Hardly the buildings fault.

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    Mute Michael Kavanagh
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    Aug 5th 2019, 12:45 PM

    @Mick Scanlan:
    You want Guinness gone as well?
    Anywhere that was once a distillery?

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    Mute Kerrydone
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    Aug 6th 2019, 1:12 AM

    @Mick Scanlan: ah now mick, An Taisce won’t like you saying stuff like that.

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    Mute Patrick FitzGerald
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    Aug 5th 2019, 3:17 PM

    This site should be developed entirely as public housing to break the cycle of high rents being driven by nothing but greed.

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    Mute Sean
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    Aug 6th 2019, 8:05 AM

    I would bet now that the apartments are sold as a block to a pension trust or real estate fund before they are completed and subsequently rented out and that they are not sold individually as homes.

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    Mute Anthony Clark
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    Aug 5th 2019, 9:54 PM

    I remember the very strong tobacco making smells as you passed the building…

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    Mute Keith Ellis
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    Aug 5th 2019, 10:39 PM

    It was also the site of where Red Rock was filmed.

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