U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office issued a statement late on Friday taking issue with a report in Buzzfeed that President Donald Trump's former lawyer Michael Cohen said Trump told him to lie to Congress.
"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 office, said in the statement.
It's extremely rare for Mueller's office to comment on media reports about the ongoing investigation into the alleged Russia meddling of the 2016 elections and its ties with the Trump campaign.
File photo taken on December 12, 2018 shows Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen leaves US Federal Court in New York after his sentencing after pleading guilty to tax evasion, making false statements to a financial institution, illegal campaign contributions, and making false statements to Congress. /VCG Photo
File photo taken on December 12, 2018 shows Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen leaves US Federal Court in New York after his sentencing after pleading guilty to tax evasion, making false statements to a financial institution, illegal campaign contributions, and making false statements to Congress. /VCG Photo
BuzzFeed, citing two federal law enforcement officials, reported Thursday night that Mueller has evidence suggesting the president directed Cohen to lie to Congress about the possible Trump Tower project in Moscow. Trump on Friday accused Cohen of "lying to reduce his jail time."
Cohen admitted in the investigation that talks about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow extended into June 2016, when Trump was the presumptive Republican presidential nominee. Cohen initially told Congress that the talks fizzled out that January.
Cohen is set to testify voluntarily before the U.S. House Oversight and Reform Committee on February 7. He was sentenced last month to three years in jail after pleading guilty to a series of crimes, including hush money payments prior to the 2016 presidential election to silence two women who claim to have had affairs with Trump.
(Top image: File photo taken on June 21, 2017 shows U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller departs after briefing members of the Senate on his investigation of potential collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S. /VCG Photo)
Source(s): Reuters
,Xinhua News Agency