Food for thought

1) Buzzfeed makes outrageous claim about POTUS breaking the law that they thought couldn't be debunked

2) Claim drives lots of traffic and good press to Buzzfeed

3) Claim gets unexpectedly debunked and Buzzfeed loses traffic and becomes a joke of a news company

4) Buzzfeed lays off 15% of its people.

I think the big connection here has been missed. Buzzfeed is in financial trouble. They knowingly put out a bad, but sensational story to hide to turn their financial fortunes. This wasn't to bring down Trump, this was to drive revenue (taking down Trump was just a bonus to them).

Could it be that they were trying to commit fraud to up the value of the company/shares knowing the extra revenue they would get from their big scoop? They would then cash in and when the truth came out, they would already have made a ton of money and have a lucrative job in a new location with someone else taking the fall. I believe this is fraud. Fraud against their investors.