Despite several days of blistering controversy over their bombshell report that Donald Trump ordered Michael Cohen to lie to Congress, BuzzFeed News editor in chief Ben Smith and reporter Anthony Cormier continued to insist that their reporting “will be borne out.” On Sunday morning’s edition of CNN’s Reliable Sources, host Brian Stelter asked Cormier and Smith about Special Counsel Robert Mueller‘s statement disputing the accuracy of BuzzFeed’s reporting. Stelter asked how it feels to have Mueller cast doubt on the reporting, and Cormier replied, “Never great, but I’m solid. My sources are solid. This reporting is accurate.” “So the people who are saying heads should roll at BuzzFeed, you’re hurting the news business as a whole, what do you say?” Stelter asked. Cormier went through a brief summary of his own experience as a reporter, and told Stelter “This is going to be borne out, Brian. This story is accurate.” “What if the sources are just wrong?” Stelter asked. “They’re not,” Cormier said. “Not intentionally. Not trying to hurt you, but what if they’re wrong?” Stelter asked. “They’re not,” Cormier replied. “They’re not. I’m confident.” Smith explained the need to protect sources, especially after Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani’s call for legal action, but said “we stand by all of it.” Stelter then asked about the documents that the reporters have seen related to the report, and Cormier explained that “We can’t get into the details. At this point because of the calls for a leak investigation and the sort of sensitivity around that matter, we can’t go any further at all in order not to jeopardize our sources. We make a commitment to them.” https://www.mediaite.com/tv/buzzfee...en-bombshell-our-reporting-will-be-borne-out/ The central issue: Did Trump tell Cohen to lie under oath Mueller: Did not deny Trump: Did not deny Cohen did not deny. Sanders: Did not deny Kellyanne: Did not deny Buzzfeed: Stands by story
That is a bunch of exaggerated crap. In a technical sense he is correct in that it would be better to have a member of the defense team an investigator to the interview but a defense team is going to try an ascertain the testimony to at least nail it down and prepare. You may even try and make sure the witness accurately recalls the situation. Contacting the witness and finding out what the testimony is... is not only allowed its what a good defense team does.
Rudy Giuliani told the New Yorker he knows the BuzzFeed story about President Trump telling Michael Cohen to lie to Congress is false. Said Giuliani: “I have been through all the tapes, I have been through all the texts, I have been through all the e-mails, and I knew none existed. And then, basically, when the special counsel said that, just in case there are any others I might not know about, they probably went through others and found the same thing.” When pressed on the tapes, he backtracked: “I shouldn’t have said tapes. They alleged there were texts and e-mails that corroborated that Cohen was saying the President told him to lie. There were no texts, there were no e-mails, and the President never told him to lie.” When pressed again: “No tapes. Well, I have listened to tapes, but none of them concern this.” In a Fox News interview, Donald Trump Jr. blamed Michael Cohen for the Trump Tower Moscow project saying, “We don’t know anything about it.” Said Trump Jr.: “But the reality is this wasn’t a deal — we don’t know the developer. We don’t know the site. We don’t know anything about it. Ultimately, it was Michael Cohen essentially trying to get a deal done. You know, he was there for a long time. He wasn’t exactly a deal guy. He didn’t bring too many to the table. So, I don’t think anyone took it all that seriously.” Axios: “Trump Jr.’s statement contradicts multiple facts that have already been made public about the Moscow project — mentioned publicly in a 2013 Trump tweet — which was formalized in a letter of intent signed by Trump in October 2015 with a team of developers first revealed in 2017.
You're the one getting lost in the weed(s). There's smoke coming coming out of everything Trump. Just inhale and enjoy the ride in the handbasket.
There are a lot of folks in denial of reality here. And this has nothing to do with the Buzzfeed story. Let's ask a few questions and see if we can estimate probability of a series of events based on what we know of Donald Trump's Psychosis and his , and Cohen's, known prior behavior and actions in similar circumstances. Let's start with Mueller's written characterization of the event in question within court filings, viz., Mueller's office wrote that Cohen’s false claim that the project ended in January 2016 was an attempt to “minimize links between the Moscow Project and Individual 1 in hopes of limiting the ongoing Russia investigations.” [individual 1 is the President]1. What is the probability that before testifying to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees Cohen discussed his up-coming testimony with Individual-1? I estimate that at 0.99 2. Based on our knowledge of what Individual-1 did when he heard that the meeting in Trump Tower among a Russian Operative, his son Donald, Paul Manafort and others was about to be exposed [Individual-1 wrote out out a script for Donald. The script is known to be a lie] , we can surmise with high confidence what Individual-1 did when he and M. Cohen discussed Cohen's upcoming testimony. With high confidence we can surmise that Individual-1 suggested a script for Cohen's testimony in regard to his negotiating, via subordinates, to build a tower in Moscow with his name at the Top. I estimate that probability at 0.99. Total probability so far = 0.98 3. Assuming that Individual-1 suggested said script, what is the probability that the script Individual-1 presented to M. Cohen was a lie? I estimate that probability at 1.00 . Final probability 0.98!!!