2016 ELECTION/MEDIA/MICHAEL COHEN/ROBERT MUELLER/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Michael Cohen’s checkered history and many lies have always meant investigators would need documentation to back up his statements. BuzzFeed’s dramatic report Thursday [1-17-19] night, based on two unidentified federal law enforcement sources involved in the investigation, suggested prosecutors might have what they need to prove President Donald Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress in 2017 about Trump Tower Moscow negotiations during the 2016 campaign. Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office took the unusual step Friday [1-18-19], after this column was first published, of calling the BuzzFeed report ‘not accurate’ in its ‘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.’ The statement from Mueller spokesman Peter Carr raises a number of questions. Was it another office, not Mueller’s, that Cohen spoke to? Was BuzzFeed’s reference to ‘internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents’ inaccurate in whole or in part? If the core of the BuzzFeed report holds up, it appears investigators could have evidence of obstruction of justice and suborning perjury — impeachable offenses — on a platter.”
–Jill Lawrence, “BuzzFeed Michael Cohen report: Will it hold up? Will it change the game for Trump and GOP?,” USA Today, January 19, 2019 1:51 pm