Tag: Jason Leopold

(CNN)Special counsel Robert Mueller's office disputed an explosive story from BuzzFeed News as "not accurate" Friday night, after the news outlet reported the President had directed his personal attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress, for which Cohen was later prosecuted. "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," said Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller's office, in a statement. The clamor grew throughout the day and into Friday night. The BuzzFeed story, by reporters Jason Leopold and Anthony Cormier, asserted that Cohen had told special counsel investigators that "after the election, the president personally instructed him to lie — by claiming that negotiations [for a Trump development project in Moscow] ended months earlier than they actually did — in order to obscure Trump's involvement," BuzzFeed wrote, attributing its assertion to two law enforcement sources. The BuzzFeed story made several other claims that remain uncorroborated by other media outlets regarding Cohen's lies to Congress and communications with Mueller. he tweeted. Steele worked for the intelligence firm Fusion GPS, which was retained by Perkins Coie, the law firm for the Hillary Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Trump encouraged Cohen to lie," he tweeted. "Today's development only underscores the need for the special counsel to wrap this investigation up immediately," the North Carolina Republican tweeted. Show us what you have."

-Written by Elaine Godfrey (@elainejgodfrey) Today in 5 Lines On the first anniversary of the special counsel’s Russia probe, President Trump reiterated his claim that there was no collusion between his campaign and the Russians. Trump told reporters that he was referring to MS-13 gang members when he called some undocumented immigrants “animals” on Wednesday. The Senate confirmed Gina Haspel as CIA director. She’ll be the first woman to lead the agency. Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano erupted again, sending a plume of ash 30,000 feet into the sky. The explosion comes after two weeks of volcanic activity that has destroyed at least 26 homes on the Big Island. Authorities said one teacher and one student were killed, and more than 40 others were injured, in a school-bus crash in New Jersey. Today on The Atlantic DIY Education: Some black parents are turning to homeschooling to protect their kids from the systemic racism embedded in America’s public education system. (Melinda D. Anderson) It’s Too Late Now: “Throughout his career, Trump has coped with failure by brazenly misrepresenting failure as success,” writes David Frum. We can expect the administration to take a similar approach in its negotiations with North Korea.