BuzzFeed’s editor-in-chief Ben Smith responded to a stunning statement released late Friday by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office which disputed an earlier blockbuster report published by BuzzFeed. The scandalous report claimed that President Trump directed his former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about the timing of a proposed Moscow Trump Tower project.

In response to the statement tonight from the Special Counsel’s spokesman: We stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the Special Counsel to make clear what he’s disputing.

— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen) January 19, 2019

The rare statement from Peter Carr, a spokesman for Mueller’s office, reads:

“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.”

After spending a better part of Friday swearing by the story on liberal news networks, the publication is digging in its heels. Within moments of the denial from Mueller’s office, Smith called on the Special Counsel to explain what he is disputing.

In the meantime, CNN and MSNBC are scrambling to recover from the shock and disappointment.

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