Rep. Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said Monday that BuzzFeed is among members of the media who have “staked their entire careers on this Russian gambit.”
Late last week, special counsel Robert Mueller’s office issued a rare public statement repudiating a BuzzFeed report that claimed President Trump ordered his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about his business dealings in Russia.
That report, the latest from the outlet on the Trump-Russia saga, was the latest sign of BuzzFeed being a “critical player” in a wider media effort to develop a Russia narrative to besmirch Trump, Nunes said.
“BuzzFeed, along with dozens and dozens of actors of news media people, have staked their entire careers on this Russian gambit,” Nunes said on Fox News. “They are desperate. Every week we have something new, something comes up that this is the end all be all.”
The BuzzFeed report that was published Thursday claimed Cohen told Mueller the president instructed him to lie and that Mueller’s office had learned about Trump’s orders through a witness from the Trump Organization as well as messages and documents. Over the next day, congressional Democrats began clamoring for action. Notably, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said his panel would investigate the claims in the story.
Even after Mueller’s office pushed back on the report, Schiff stood firm on an inquiry, saying Sunday that Cohen already has a date to testify.
Nunes is the top Republican on the intelligence panel and had been asked to comment on Schiff’s plans. He reminded Fox News’ viewers that BuzzFeed was the outlet behind the controversial publication of the unverified dossier, which contained unverified claims about Trump’s ties to Russia.
Nunes also said BuzzFeed’s latest story was a “Hail Mary pass” that “just didn’t work.”
Nunes is no stranger to what he calls “fake news.” Last week he dismissed a Daily Beast report that said Mueller was scrutinizing an event he attended with former national security adviser Michael Flynn and foreign officials days before President Trump’s inauguration as a “fake news” smear.
