BuzzFeed Scrambles To Explain Botched Michael Cohen Bombshell

BuzzFeed News is attempting to explain its botched bombshell claiming President Donald Trump directed lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress after Mueller’s report on Russia collusion revealed the story not to be true. An article by editor-in-chief Ben Smith published Thursday further characterizes the sources and documents that lead to the report, but does not indicate that BuzzFeed intends to retract the story. BuzzFeed published the intense allegation in January 2019, citing two law enforcement officials sources and launching a full day of speculation that the president could be impeached.

Mueller’s office disputed the report, which said Trump directed Cohen to lie about a Trump Tower deal in Moscow — an unprecedented move by the special counsel. “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,” a spokesman for the special counsel’s office said at the time. BuzzFeed continued to defend the story despite the vehement denial by Mueller’s team, but the release of the redacted report Thursday specifically debunks the reporting. “Cohen said that he and the President did not explicitly discuss whether Cohen’s testimony about the Trump Tower Moscow project would be or was false, and the President did not direct him to provide false testimony. Cohen also said he did not tell the President about the specifics of his planned testimony,” the report says. The report adds that while Trump may have known that Cohen’s testimony was false, the evidence “does not establish that the President directed or aided Cohen’s false testimony.”

Smith argues that BuzzFeed stood by the story initially because its two law enforcement officials were confident with the way they characterized the interaction between Trump and Cohen, adding that BuzzFeed reviewed the officials’ notes from an interview with Cohen. ''“That reporting included documents — specifically, pages of notes that were taken during an interview of Cohen by the FBI. In those notes, one law enforcement source wrote that “DJT personally asked Cohen to say negotiations ended in January and White House counsel office knew Cohen would give false testimony to Congress. Sanctioned by DJT. Joint lawyer team reviewed letter Cohen sent to SSCI about his testimony about Trump Tower moscow, et al, knowing it contained lies.”''

“The facts of Cohen’s lies and his interactions with Trump are, largely, now settled. Our sources — federal law enforcement officials — interpreted the evidence Cohen presented as meaning that the president ‘directed’ Cohen to lie. We now know that Mueller did not,” Smith writes. Smith ultimately characterizes the contradictory information in the Mueller report as an “update” to the story, but does not apologize for getting it wrong or indicate that they plan on issuing a retraction or correction.

The original piece now reads at the top, “UPDATE: The Mueller report found that Trump did not direct Michael Cohen to lie.”

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/04/19/buzzfeed-news-russia-cohen-explanation/

How We Characterized Michael Cohen’s Testimony

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/bensmith/how-we-characterized-michael-cohens-testimony?bftwnews&utm_term=4ldqpgc#4ldqpgc

Mueller’s Office Disputes BuzzFeed’s Report

https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/18/muellers-office-disputes-buzzfeeds-report/

BuzzFeed Doubles Down On Trump Story, But Won’t Discuss Documents Or Sources

https://dailycaller.com/2019/01/20/buzzfeed-doubles-down-cohen/

President Trump Directed His Attorney Michael Cohen To Lie To Congress About The Moscow Tower Project

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/jasonleopold/trump-russia-cohen-moscow-tower-mueller-investigation

Mueller Claimed Joseph Mifsud Lied To The FBI About Papadopoulos Contacts, But He Wasn’t Charged

The special counsel’s report alleged Joseph Mifsud made false statements to the FBI regarding his interactions with George Papadopoulos.

Mifsud was also reported to have lived for months at an apartment owned by Link Campus, a Roman university that has ties to Western intelligence.

Papadopoulos pleaded guilty in the Mueller probe to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Mifsud, who has not faced charges.

Two reports published Thursday add to the mystery of Joseph Mifsud, a Maltese professor at the heart of the Russia probe. Special counsel Robert Mueller alleges in his report on the Russia investigation that Mifsud lied to the FBI about the timeline of his contacts with George Papadopoulos, the Trump campaign adviser whom the FBI claims was the catalyst for the bureau’s collusion investigation. Also on Thursday, an Italian newspaper revealed that after Mifsud was first linked to Papadopoulos, he allegedly went into hiding for months, living at a Rome apartment owned by Link International. The company controls Link Campus, a university in Rome that partners closely with Western intelligence agencies.

The developments raise several questions about Mifsud, including whether he is more closely affiliated with Russia or with the West. It is also not clear why Mifsud was not charged in the Mueller probe. The report does not discuss whether charges were considered against the Maltese mystery man. But his treatment is in contrast with how the Mueller team handled Papadopoulos. The former Trump aide pleaded guilty in October 2017 to making false statements to the FBI about Mifsud during an interview Jan. 27, 2017. Papadopoulos was sentenced to 14 days in prison in his case.

Mifsud and Papadopoulos first met March 14, 2016, at Link Campus, days after Papadopoulos found out he would be joining the Trump team. Papadopoulos worked at the time at the London Centre for International Law Practice (LCILP), a London-based think tank. He said in his new book, “Deep State Target,” that LCILP executives were eager to introduce him to Mifsud, who also worked for LCILP. That excitement has since fostered suspicion in Papadopoulos, who was targeted during his campaign stint by at least one known FBI informant, Stefan Halper. Papadopoulos noted in “Deep State Target” that one of LCILP’s directors was Arvinder Sambei, a lawyer who has represented the FBI in cases in the U.K.

Papadopoulos re-upped his allegations in light of Thursday’s developments that Mifsud was a Western intelligence asset sent to entrap him. “An FBI asset named Joseph Mifsud dropped unsolicited info in my lap about ‘Russians having Clinton’s emails,'” Papadopoulos wrote on Twitter, referring to a fateful meeting he had with Mifsud in April 2016. Papadopoulos and Mifsud became fast friends after the initial meeting. They began corresponding online, and met in London on March 24, 2016. Mifsud introduced Papadopoulos to a woman he claimed to be the niece of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Mifsud introduced the woman as Olga Vinagradova, though it was later determined that her real name is Olga Polonskaya and that she is not related to Putin.

Mueller’s report contains new details about Mifsud and Polonskaya, including that they might have been in a relationship at the time they were in contact with Papadopoulos. Mueller also revealed Mifsud was drafting and editing some of Polonskaya’s messages to Papadopoulos. “For example, within a week of her initial March 24 meeting with him, Polonskaya attempted to send Papadopoulos a text message which email exchanges show to have been drafted or edited by Mifsud,” the report said. The trio remained in contact for weeks, attempting to set up meetings between the Trump campaign and Russian government officials. Mifsud also introduced Papadopoulos to Ivan Timofeev, an executive at a Russian think tank that has ties to Russia’s foreign ministry. Mifsud and Polonskskaya said they could put Papadopoulos in touch with Russia’s ambassador to the U.K., but that never came to pass. The most fateful encounter between Mifsud and Papadopoulos occurred April 26, 2016, at the Andaz Hotel in London.

https://www.dailycaller.com/2019/04/19/joseph-mifsud-papadopoulos-mueller/

L’introvabile Mifsud? Nascosto a Roma

https://www.ilfoglio.it/cronache/2019/04/18/news/lintrovabile-mifsud-nascosto-a-roma-250313/

DNC Said Joseph Mifsud Could Be Dead — His Adviser Pours Cold Water On The Theory

https://dailycaller.com/2018/09/10/joseph-mifsud-alive/

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Adam Schiff