Day 732: So what.

Monday, January 21, 2019

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1/ The special counsel's office issued a rare statement disputing aspects of the BuzzFeed report that Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about Trump's involvement in a real-estate deal with Russia during the 2016 campaign. A statement...

Visit WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.

Monday, January 21, 2019

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

1/ The special counsel's office issued a rare statement disputing aspects of the BuzzFeed report that Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about Trump's involvement in a real-estate deal with Russia during the 2016 campaign. A statement from Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller, called the report's "description of specific statements to the Special Counsel's Office" and the "characterization of documents and testimony obtained by this office" as it related to Cohen's Congressional testimony "not accurate." In response, BuzzFeed News Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith tweeted: "We stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the Special Counsel to make clear what he's disputing." BuzzFeed's story cited two anonymous law-enforcement sources. According to different anonymous people who claim to be familiar with the matter, "Mueller's denial […] aims to make clear that none of those statement in the story are accurate." And, another anonymous person claiming to be familiar with Cohen's testimony to Mueller's prosecutors said: "Cohen did not state that the president had pressured him to lie to Congress." The statement from the special counsel's office came nearly a day after the story was published. (New York Times / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal / The Guardian / Politico / CNN / Vox)

Trump thanked Robert Mueller for the statement, tweeting that he "appreciate[s] the special counsel coming out with a statement last night" about what he called "a total phony story." (Reuters / Axios / USA Today)

BuzzFeed insisted that their reporting is "solid" and "accurate." BuzzFeed's Anthony Cormier said "I'm solid. My sources are solid. This reporting is accurate," adding that he has received "further confirmation" that the report is accurate. "I have further confirmation that this is right. We're being told to stand our ground. … Our reporting is going to be borne to be accurate and we're 100 percent behind it." (The Hill)

2/ Trump was involved in negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow throughout the entire 2016 presidential campaign – several months longer than any administration official or Trump...

Visit WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.