The Buzzfeed "Blockbuster"

Buzzfeed: "We got a hell of a story here, Tony."




CNN and the rest of the mainstream media are having a field day with the Buzzfeed report released by writers Jason Leopold and Anthony Cormier that alleges that President Trump instructed his attorney, Michael Cohen, to lie under oath about Trump's efforts to build a Trump Tower in Moscow. At issue was at what point in the campaign did the project end. The writers have claimed that they were given, shown, or told about the matter and alleged corroborating texts, emails, investigative reports etc by federal agents close to the investigation. That would indicate the FBI, DOJ and/or someone from the office of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller.

I would like to address this story from the perspective of a retired federal agent (Drug Enforcement Administration).

First of all, if the story is true-and we don't know if it is- Trump would be guilty of suborning perjury, and that is a serious matter. I don't want to downplay it.

Secondly, even if the accusation is true, there is another crime that has been committed here. That would be by the government agents who were the sources for the Buzzfeed article. Simply put, you don't leak investigative information to the media during the course of an on-going investigation. If this is what happened, it is despicable, unethical, unprofessional, and yes-criminal. It would serve to confirm that there is such a thing as the "deep state" comprised of government employees at high levels who are determined to remove this president from office. We saw  it with Andrew McCabe, and we saw it with Peter Strzok, Lisa Page and Bruce Ohr.

Let me turn to Mr Cohen. He stands as a convicted  felon and liar who is preparing to spend three years in prison. If and when he ever takes the witness stand, he will require 100% corroboration for his testimony. That would mean audio tapes, texts, emails and something by Trump-written or recorded- that corroborates the allegations. Simply put, you couldn't put a dog in the pound based on Cohen's testimony alone. I know from experience having helped put informants, cooperating co-conspirators, and  other criminal types on the stand that their word alone means little. In fact, a judge will instruct the jurors to consider the testimony of such witnesses with great caution. If Mueller cannot corroborate such an allegation by Cohen, this will go nowhere.

Many will say if Cohen is such a sleazeball, why did Trump use him as his attorney for so long? It's a good question, but carries more weight politically than evidentially though jurors might themselves wonder.

Alisyn Camerota interviewed Cormier on CNN's New Day show. He insisted their information was "rock solid", but said that they had not personally seen the documents that would corroborate the allegation. He added that their two sources were "read into" the investigation and that they (the sources) had seen the evidence. He also referred to FBI investigative reports (302s).  When asked by Camerota if they had seen the documents, Cormier responded, "No, I've not seen it personally."

It seems that between statements made to the media in the past 24 hours by both reporters, there is confusion over whether they had actually seen corroborating documents. Hotair addresses that aspect here.

Confusing the issue, Leopold indicated to MSNBC that they had seen documents.

“I’ll say we’ve seen documents and been briefed,” he said.

"Mediaite contacted Leopold for his response to Cormier’s statement that he hasn’t personally seen the documents cited in their report. He responded with “Yes. Anthony said HE had not personally seen the documents.”

Further clouding the issue is the fact that Leopold has a history of inaccurate reporting that has brought embarrassment to multiple news outlets, like Salon.  He was reportedly fired by the Los Angeles Times. In 2006, he "broke" the story that Karl Rove had been indicted. (He wasn't.)

In short, this story cannot be accepted at face value. That won't stop the media feeding frenzy and the hysterical proclamations by Democrats like Joaquin Castro that Trump must be impeached.

* Breaking: And just as I am concluding this piece, the Office of the Special Counsel is disputing the Buzzfeed story.

"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."