2016 ELECTION/MEDIA/MICHAEL COHEN/ROBERT MUELLER/RUSSIA/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The special counsel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election disputed on Friday [1-18-19] a report that said President Trump had directed Michael D. Cohen, his longtime lawyer and fixer, to lie to Congress about his role in negotiations to build a skyscraper in Moscow. The rare public statement by a spokesman for the special counsel, Robert S. Mueller III, challenged the facts of an article published by BuzzFeed News on Thursday [1-17-19] saying that Mr. Cohen had told prosecutors about being pressured by the president before his congressional testimony..Before Mr. Carr’s statement, the BuzzFeed report led to a flurry of reactions by senior members of Congress who said that the allegations, if true, could be grounds for initiating impeachment proceedings against Mr. Trump…A proven effort by Mr. Trump to pressure a witness to commit perjury would be one of the most damning revelations so far in the investigation into Russia’s attempts to sabotage the 2016 presidential election and could be the cornerstone of a case that the president obstructed justice to keep investigators at bay. Both the White House and lawyers for Mr. Trump vigorously denied the BuzzFeed report even before the special counsel’s office weighed in.”
–Mark Mazzetti and Sharon LaFraniere, “Mueller Statement Disputes Report That Trump Directed Cohen to Lie,” The New York Times online, January 18, 2019