BuzzFeed News was forced to update a January scoop about Michael Cohen in the wake of the release of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report.
The article, which reported President Trump directed his then-attorney to lie to Congress, had a note added Thursday in the wake of the release of Mueller’s report: “UPDATE: The Mueller report found that Trump did not direct Michael Cohen to lie.”
The controversy centered around false statements former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen made to Congress related to the timeline of a possible Trump Tower Moscow business deal. Mueller’s report said that “the evidence available to us does not establish that the President directed or aided Cohen’s false testimony” and that the “President did not direct him to provide false testimony.”
Following publication of the original article, Mueller spokesman Peter Carr issued a rare statement calling it “not accurate.”
At the time, BuzzFeed stood by its story, saying, “We are continuing to report and determine what the special counsel is disputing. We remain confident in the accuracy of our report.”
BuzzFeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith also explained BuzzFeed’s characterization of Cohen’s testimony in a separate piece Friday, conceding that, “as a matter of what constitutes a crime, Mueller has the last word, and his characterization has the force of law.”
Smith said that “with the release of the Mueller report, we know which characterization Carr was disputing: Specifically, that the series of interactions between Trump, Cohen, and their lawyers did not, in the prosecutors’ view, amount to Trump ‘directing’ Cohen to lie.”
[Also read: Mueller report compels McClatchy to put editor’s note on Cohen-Prague stories]
Smith said the original article was based on discussions with “senior law enforcement sources” — characterized in January as “two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter — and that they had reviewed “pages of notes that were taken during an interview of Cohen by the FBI.”
The notes state that Trump, referred to in the notes as “DJT,” “personally asked Cohen to say negotiations ended in January and White House counsel office knew Cohen would give false testimony to Congress. Sanctioned by DJT.”
The notes further stated: “Cohen told OSC,” the Office of Special Counsel, “he was asked to lie by DJT / DJT Jr., lawyers.”
“At the time, the sources asked reporters to keep the information confidential, but with the publication of Mueller’s report they have permitted its release,” Smith said.
Cohen’s lawyers recently sent a letter to Congress claiming that Cohen was, in effect, instructed to lie about the Trump Tower Moscow deal “through the use of Trump code words that could only be interpreted as an instruction or ‘directive.’”
Mueller’s report did not agree with this characterization.
Cohen pleaded guilty in November for lying to Congress. He wrote a letter to House Democrats earlier this month asking them to help postpone his May prison date in exchange for more testimony.
“Soon I will be ready to address the American people again…tell it all…and tell it myself!” Cohen tweeted Thursday.
