Trump Gloats Over BuzzFeed Rebuke: 'Sad Day For Journalism, Great Day For Country'
President Donald Trump took a victory lap on social media Friday in the wake of a statement from special counsel Robert Mueller’s office that a BuzzFeed report about him was “not accurate.”
Trump crowed that it was a “sad day for journalism, but a great day for our Country!”
Remember it was Buzzfeed that released the totally discredited “Dossier,” paid for by Crooked Hillary Clinton and the Democrats (as opposition research), on which the entire Russian probe is based! A very sad day for journalism, but a great day for our Country!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 19, 2019
Fake News is truly the ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 19, 2019
BuzzFeed reported Thursday that Trump had directed his personal attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about his involvement in a Moscow real estate project during the presidential campaign. The article triggered calls from Democrats for the president’s resignation or impeachment.
But in a rare statement from Mueller’s team, a spokesman told BuzzFeed on Friday that its “description of specific statements” and its “characterization of documents and testimony” obtained by the special counsel’s office was “not accurate.”
The statement did not directly address the key point of the article, nor did it mention the Trump Tower deal in Moscow.
UPDATE: The special counsel's office has taken the rare step of issuing a statement in response to our report on Michael Cohen being directed by Trump to lie to Congress:https://t.co/WA2fZcdK9u pic.twitter.com/PY1r9LxDid
— Jason Leopold (@JasonLeopold) January 19, 2019
BuzzFeed Editor-in-Chief Ben Smith said in response that the publication stood by its reporting and asked the special counsel to “make clear what he’s disputing.”
In response to the statement tonight from the Special Counsel's spokesman: We stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the Special Counsel to make clear what he's disputing.
— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) January 19, 2019
BuzzFeed relied on two unnamed law enforcement sources involved in the investigation.
Trump also slammed BuzzFeed in his tweet as the first to report on the damning 2016 intelligence document about him compiled by former British agent Christopher Steele.
Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani responded with his own tweets Friday, calling on the Department of Justice to “reveal the leakers of this false BuzzFeed story which the press and Democrats gleefully embraced.” He said the media’s “hysterical desire to destroy this President has gone too far.”
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I commend Bob Mueller’s office for correcting the BuzzFeed false story that Pres. Trump encouraged Cohen to lie. I ask the press to take heed that their hysterical desire to destroy this President has gone too far. They pursued this without critical analysis all day. #FAKENEWS
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) January 19, 2019
Now the DOJ must reveal the leakers of this false BuzzFeed story which the press and Democrats gleefully embraced. And maybe House Dems should wait to investigate until the Mueller report is filed. 4 have started already.There may be nothing to legitimately investigate.
— Rudy Giuliani (@RudyGiuliani) January 19, 2019
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