Special
Counsel Robert Mueller’s office on Friday issued an extraordinary
statement disputing a bombshell news report claiming President Trump directed Michael
Cohen to lie about the timing of discussions over a proposed Trump
Tower project in Moscow.
“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,” Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller’s office, said Friday.
The statement is remarkable in that Mueller's team rarely
issue statements in response to news stories. But BuzzFeed's story sparked
immense interest from Democrats, who called for renewed investigations and
even suggested the allegations could form the basis for impeachment
proceedings.
In a story published Thursday, BuzzFeed cited two unnamed
federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation on the matter
who said Cohen acknowledged to Mueller’s office that he was instructed by Trump
in 2017 to lie to Congress about the now-abandoned real estate deal to build a
Trump Tower in Russia.
The report said Mueller’s office first learned of the
directive from interviews with witnesses from the Trump Organization and
internal company email, text messages and documents.
The report, which was not been confirmed by Fox News, was
immediately dismissed by President Trump’s legal team.
"Any suggestion – from any source – that the
President counseled Michael Cohen to lie is categorically false. Michael
Cohen is a convicted criminal and a liar," Giuliani said. "...
Today’s claims are just more made-up lies born of Michael Cohen’s malice and
desperation, in an effort to reduce his sentence."
Earlier Friday, House Intelligence Committee Chairman
Adam Schiff, D-Calif., whose committee is already investigating the president
and his ties to Russia, called the allegations in the report “the most serious
to date.”
“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,” Schiff said in a statement. “We will do what’s necessary to
find out if it’s true.”
Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said the House should begin to
“establish a record” of whether Trump “committed high crimes,” repeatedly
hinting on Twitter at impeachment proceedings.
“Based on the Buzzfeed report and numerous other articles
showing @realDonaldTrump committed Obstruction of Justice and other possible
felonies, it is time for the House Judiciary Committee to start holding
hearings to establish a record of whether @POTUS committed high crimes,” Lieu
tweeted.
Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, called for Trump to leave
office or face impeachment if the report is accurate.
“If the @BuzzFeed story is true, President Trump must
resign or be impeached,” he said.
The BuzzFeed report claimed Trump directed Cohen to lie
in his congressional testimony, though according to court documents and the
statements Cohen made publicly, he has acknowledged that his actions were taken
out of “loyalty” to the president.
In November, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress
about the Trump real estate project in Russia as part of Mueller’s
investigation into Russian meddling and potential collusion with Trump campaign
associates in the 2016 presidential election.
Cohen entered a plea deal with the special counsel to
cooperate on “any and all matters” deemed relevant. The maximum prison sentence
for Cohen is five years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
In court in November, after entering his plea, Cohen
acknowledged his work for Trump as counsel and adviser.
In a separate case brought by federal prosecutors in the
Southern District of New York, Cohen pleaded guilty to breaking campaign finance
laws by helping orchestrate payments to former Playboy model Karen McDougal and
porn star Stormy Daniels in exchange for their silence about alleged sexual
encounters with the president while he was married. Prosecutors and Cohen
himself said the former Trump fixer orchestrated those payments at Trump's
direction.
Cohen is slated to appear for public testimony before the
House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Feb. 7.
Fox News' Jake Gibson
contributed to this report.
