What if the “two federal law enforcement officials” Buzzfeed references giving them the scoop turn out to be aides associated with Mark Whitaker at Justice? Hey, it’s not so crazy, especially these days. I’ve seen crazier stuff in the last two years. Just saying.
Glad to see this specific response from Buzzfeed, especially if it deflates Don the Con and his giddiness.
Mueller’s statement disputing BuzzFeed’s story that Trump told Cohen to lie really didn’t argue with the veracity of the underlying matter. Rather, Mueller quibbled with details of how it occurred.
What is curious is why did Mueller see the need to issue such a vague denial? What made them do so? Did fake AG Whitaker order it? Or was Mueller doing it to preserve sources and protect testimony?
The whole issue is very strange.
And, now, ladies and gentlemen, in corner one we have Buzzfeed and in corner two is the Office of Special Council. May the best organization win.
What is the inaccuracy? That’s the question. Muller’s office deliberately will not say!
The Special Councils Office did not say that Cohen lied about being instructed to lie to Congress by tRump. Cohen has already admitted in federal Court he lied about Trump Towers Russia. That “unprecedented” statement, that was not “directly disputing the story but giving a sort of general warning that there had been inaccuracies out there and every journalist should be careful about their sources.” SCO is feeling pressured to reveal what they have to the public and to congress and the Buzzfeed article puts pressure on Mueller to accelerate his schedule. With impeachment being a real possibility now that the Dems own the house many in congress want as much ammunition as they can get from Mueller. Congress want to move on impeachment now-even before the Buzzfeed story broke.
“Mueller was in possession of “internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents” that displayed Trump’s “directive for Cohen to lie to Congress,” and that Cohen had “acknowledged those instructions” in interviews with Mueller’s office.”
That’s the Special Councils Office dispute. They don’t say that Cohen did not verbally tell them tRump instructed him to lie to Congress. They don’t even say Cohen is lying. This statement was very carefully crafted. There is something Mueller doesn’t want to be made public yet I believe. Or, Mueller’ has a specific time frame that he’s working on and Buzzfeed stepped on it which compelled the Democratic’s to want to start impeachment proceeding Monday. This is Mueller’s way of slowing things down because they will not respond to Buzzfeeds request to clarify their dispute.
Interesting-Mueller had Buzzfeeds story for hours before it went public and they didn’t say a word to them but once the Democratic’s jumped on it-boom there is an issue. I think if the Dems didn’t respond they way that they did Mueller’s office wouldn’t have made that statement.
It doesn’t matter what BuzzFeed says. The fact that they relied on Jason Leopold should be enough for all of us to say, “Meh.”
His “checkered past” is full of fabrications and fervent wishes that someday he can be a real journalist.
At least let’s wait “24 business hours” before making up our minds, okay?
"There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in." Leonard Cohen, Anthem (1992)
I really think you could be onto something here. Mueller and his team have been so incredibly leak-free, dropping clues in their indictments only. This is a very, very serious investigation, and they don’t want to release anything important until it’s absolutely necessary. It ensures that they’re the drivers of this whole thing.
They must have been seriously pissed when Buzzfeed published. As fir Trump and company, they know what they did, and so does Mueller. This hardly exonerates any of them.
My secret hope is…
Mueller is close to getting Pence too, and he dosen’t want anything to break too soon… Bounce them both and hello President Pelosi. Probability of this happening is likely close to zero, but I need something to keep me happy
Let’s not forget Ivanka Trump’s carefully worded response yesterday, not exactly an outright denial.
I didn’t know that. Curious. Isn’t it pretty common for the MSM to sit on a story of this import until they’re given the okay to publish?
In this case, most of us can readily believe that this is what happened, this and much worse. Very curious.
Damn it! You got me fantasizing again!
As I wrote at length in another diary, the court filings establish that Cohen lied to Congress to help Trump. He aligned his lies to Trump’s false narrative on Russia, which was intended to distract and obstruct investigators from learning the truth about the extent of his compromising relationship with Russia. Cohen went a step further than that and said he regularly met with WH aides and Trump’s legal team while he was preparing his false statements to Congress. I think we can safely surmise that he coordinated those statements with those aides and they all aligned it to Trump’s false narrative (which Cohen knew was false).
If this were a mafia or a drug cartel case, I don’t think there would be any doubt that this communication model would be considered a directive from the top to the underlings. That’s what happened here and Buzzfeed missed that point of it in their article. If they had simply referred to those portions of the court filings and then speculated as to whether there were actual interviews/docs that might go a step further to a direct, personal statement, and that they had a source that suggested there might be, I don’t think Mueller says anything.
Mueller has more than enough evidence for congress to impeach Trump & Pence! Issue your 2 year fucking report…and commit to a 3 year report next year.
As US citizen’s, we need the report. We are sick and tired of our DOJ covering up crimes by Republicans:
- They had JFK assasonated
- They helped Reagan cover up his collusion with Iran and Iran-contra
- They helped Bush & Cheney lie and brainwash America into invading and occupying Iraq and Afghanistan
- Now we have Mueller foot dragging on Trump/Pence and McConnell!
Mueller is right wing Republican an - he should be replaced by a Democratic prosecutor. Period!
Some of those emails and other documents might still be in the process of being vetted to see what can hold up in court, what might be excluded on basis of executive privilege, etc.
So this could be the OSC not wanting anyone to jump the gun about exactly how they’ll prove the case of suborning perjury, as well as not giving the WH too much information to use in planning their defense. Basically a way of saying to BuzzFeed (and any other media outlet) “Hold on, we’ve got this, don’t step on our toes.”
I have no doubt that this is exactly what it appears to be, information got out that wasn’t completely accurate, and Mueller who did not want what happened to Dan Rather, happen to him. Got out in front of it and diffused it.
But what if this was planned all along? Why? To ratchet up the pressure on Trump could be one explanation. To introduce this topic and ensure that it is going to be more than just a one or two day event.
A lot of useful information was gleaned from peoples reaction to this story. When Mueller does release his report he’ll have a better sense of how it will be received.
I am a fan of multiple working hypotheses, and that’s my Plan B, like I said before most likely, this event is exactly what it appears to be. A bureaucratic foulup that got a little messy.
But what if?
I think this is plausible, but I also think this episode proves that Mueller’s secrecy may be starting to conflict with the public interest and also Congress’ duty to conduct oversight and investigate.
Also:
Lots of opinions flying around, but I know what we all want in the end. We’ll just have to keep waiting.
That’s an understatement to be sure. No one in tRumpworld denied it…which says A LOT.
Joy Reid remarked the same way last night.
The fact that this is also a COUNTERINTELLIGENCE investigation is a thing which drives the conundrum we are faced with.
It also allows that FAT FUCK to prance around and continue to destroy our norms.