Late Thursday night, Buzzfeed News, of all places, dropped what may be the biggest bombshell so far in the investigation into President Trump’s ties with Russia. Not to invalidate their reporting, of course, but it’s just so very 2019 that the digital media outlet once best known for quizzes such as “Make A Pizza And We’ll Reveal The Title Of Your Sex Tape” (actual quiz) could be the ones to finally blow the lid off this whole thing.
At any rate, Buzzfeed’s reported claims would certainly explain why Trump seems to be increasingly losing it. According to their reporting, then-candidate Trump was personally orchestrating meetings with Russia in order to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, and then directed his now-prison-bound former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about it. This included a planned visit to Russia while on the campaign trail in hopes of meeting with President Vladimir Putin himself, and Trump’s children, Ivanka and Donald Trump Jr., are likewise implicated.
The smoking (or “smocking gun,” if you will) at the heart of the story is that it makes it the first known instance of Trump directly instructing a subordinate to lie to Congress about his business ties with Russia. It’s no wonder Giuliani is so spooked. From Buzzfeed:
On the campaign trail, Trump vehemently denied having any business interests in Russia. But behind the scenes, he was pushing the Moscow project, which he hoped could bring his company profits in excess of $300 million. The two law enforcement sources said he had at least 10 face-to-face meetings with Cohen about the deal during the campaign.
To little surprise, as soon as the report dropped, Twitter absolutely lit up at the news, celebrating the first possible nail in Trump’s coffin while cracking jokes about where the source reporting came from.
The perfect ending is @BuzzFeed taking down Trump.
— Mark Duplass (@MarkDuplass) January 18, 2019
waiting for trump to tweet about buzzfeed pic.twitter.com/Ei3Minbq5o
— David Mack (@davidmackau) January 18, 2019
If true, the Buzzfeed story is a political earthquake. Caution: we really know little; Mueller knows much. Time to be steady, let facts lead us to truth. But at almost every turn in this national nightmare, implausible has become plausable. The walls do appear to be closing in.
— Dan Rather (@DanRather) January 18, 2019
https://twitter.com/AdamWeinstein/status/1086164441929003008
Which Mueller Indictment Are You? Take this Buzzfeed quiz to find out.
— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) January 18, 2019
Donald Trump asked Cohen to lie about the Trump Tower Moscow deal.
Then he assertively and repeatedly lied about it to the American people.
Feb 7 is going to be LIT.https://t.co/JPQSguFsea
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) January 18, 2019
WE DON'T HAVE TIME FOR YOUR SURPRISE OVER BUZZFEED'S JOURNALISTIC INTEGRITY GODDAMN IT THEY'VE BEEN DOING REAL WORK FOR YEARS
— anne t donahue (@annetdonahue) January 18, 2019
Buzzfeed 2015: Is this dress BLUE or GOLD am I going insane lol?
Buzzfeed 2019: Please consider this article detailing how the President of the United States obstructed justice through subornation of perjury.
— Nick Jack Pappas (@Pappiness) January 18, 2019
Here’s the real truth behind the Buzzfeed story.
Mueller knows everything.
— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) January 18, 2019
Meanwhile, Trump has yet to comment about the story on Twitter, however he did tweet out a Breitbart conspiracy theory from several years ago that’s just been making the rounds again.
Border rancher: “We’ve found prayer rugs out here. It’s unreal.” Washington Examiner People coming across the Southern Border from many countries, some of which would be a big surprise.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2019
https://twitter.com/KT_So_It_Goes/status/1085584854278918144
Meanwhile conservatives are insisting the multiple sourcing in Buzzfeed's report is probably fake. https://t.co/DnIhAXFzqJ
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) January 18, 2019
If the accusations are indeed true, it’s probably only the tip of the iceberg of what Mueller has got, so at this point any comment whatsoever from Trump on the subject would probably be unwise, to say the least.