After Thursday's blockbuster BuzzFeed News report about President Donald Trump ordering Michael Cohen to lie to Congress stunned politicos, one conservative commentator thinks the whole thing is a farce — but his reasoning is utterly absurd.
John Cardillo, an anchor for the right-wing news station Newsmax, made his case on Twitter Friday afternoon.
"I can't believe people are buying this BuzzFeed story," wrote Cardillo. "You'd have to believe that Trump would reach out to Cohen, after Cohen publicly admitted that he was cooperating with Mueller, and ask Cohen to lie to Congress. It's a moronic premise w/out any corroborating evidence."
I can't believe people are buying this BuzzFeed story. You'd have to believe that Trump would reach out to Cohen,… https://t.co/nhoccWFMob— John Cardillo (@John Cardillo) 1547826785.0
Cohen was not the source of the story. Anyone who actually read the report or followed the Trump-Cohen saga would know this.
"Cohen testified in Fall 2017," The Atlantic's Natasha Bertrand correctly noted. "His offices weren’t raided until April 2018 and he didn’t begin cooperating with Mueller until months after that. So your assertion makes no sense."
Cardillo's twisting of the facts was shown no mercy.
@johncardillo Just like all the other news stories that people like you tried to debunk that still hold up and cont… https://t.co/xGGGEs4lSB— Stephen Matteo (@Stephen Matteo) 1547837130.0
@johncardillo You do not seem like you are very good at critical thinking.— 𝐊𝐢𝐦 𝐋𝐲𝐝𝐨𝐧 🐘🐘 (@𝐊𝐢𝐦 𝐋𝐲𝐝𝐨𝐧 🐘🐘) 1547836371.0
@johncardillo To believe this story ISN'T TRUE you have to believe that two Government Officials are making up this… https://t.co/1OW6NOpRQK— On The Case Man (@On The Case Man) 1547837698.0
Cardillo is spectacularly wrong.
@johncardillo I can’t believe people believe anything you say when you can’t even get a basic timeline straight— Insanul Ahmed (@Insanul Ahmed) 1547836973.0
@johncardillo Oh Lordy. I'm gonna try to not be snarky. Cohen was not cooperating when he testified to Congress.… https://t.co/Z5cgAxiwib— Eric Schmeltzer 🇺🇸 (@Eric Schmeltzer 🇺🇸) 1547835293.0
@johncardillo You seem to think Buzzfeed is reporting that Trump suborned perjury after Cohen flipped. This story s… https://t.co/0Li8SP6stX— Shamus McGillicuddy (@Shamus McGillicuddy) 1547835897.0
@johncardillo This take didn’t go well— Pattipalooza (@Pattipalooza) 1547836314.0
To recap:
BuzzFeed News reported on Thursday that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s office “learned about Trump’s directive for Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents. Cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his interviews with that office.”
Cohen pleaded guilty in November to a slew of crimes including lying to Congress and was sentenced to three years in prison.
His testimony has become an invaluable cog in Mueller’s investigation into Trump’s relationship with Russia and if the president obstructed justice.
Although there is debate over whether Trump obstructed justice when he fired FBI Director James Comey in 2017 over “this Russia thing,” the testimony Cohen gave as part of his plea agreement “is the first known example of Trump explicitly telling a subordinate to lie directly about his own dealings with Russia,” BuzzFeed learned. Trump “had at least 10 face-to-face meetings with Cohen about the deal during the campaign.”
BuzzFeed’s report, if true, offers the strongest available evidence to date that Trump was directing his underlings to obstruct an ongoing federal investigation.
Cohen’s legal advisor Lanny Davis said Thursday that Cohen does not intend to let Trump“bully” him into not testifying.
Davis' comments were in response to a series of Trump’s tweets about Cohen’s father-in-law, which may amount to witness tampering, are a clear ploy to intimidate Cohen into not testifying before the House on February 7.
@johncardillo @RealFacelessMan Note date and time. https://t.co/V2HwqqgXQ4— Lisa Brenner (@Lisa Brenner) 1547843294.0
This, too, escaped Cardillo.
@RealFacelessMan Lanny Davis claims that Trump is still pressuring Cohen. It's moronic.— John Cardillo (@John Cardillo) 1547827040.0
It was not lost on anyone else though.
@johncardillo @RealFacelessMan Because Lanny Davis can hear and read. Trump is pressuring Cohen by threatening his father-in-law.— Candina Maria (@Candina Maria) 1547836516.0
@johncardillo @RealFacelessMan He's literally threatening Cohen in tweets. He did that TODAY.— Shower Cap (@Shower Cap) 1547840071.0
@johncardillo @RealFacelessMan Okay, but Lanny Davis doesn't work for BuzzFeed, John. Your original tweet was about the BuzzFeed story.— Will McAvoy (@Will McAvoy) 1547837014.0
@johncardillo @RealFacelessMan Oh, there's something moronic at work here, John. That much is true.— Ian Whetstone (@Ian Whetstone) 1547837198.0
@johncardillo @RealFacelessMan It's like, "that's a nice family y'got there. Be a shame if something happened to th… https://t.co/u3R20Ayo1m— Adrian (@Adrian) 1547838323.0
@johncardillo @RealFacelessMan Oh, there's something moronic at work here, John. That much is true.— Ian Whetstone (@Ian Whetstone) 1547837198.0
@johncardillo @RealFacelessMan Yep, this is the hill to die on. https://t.co/SIPhbIsLQM— TJ Wanderslug (@TJ Wanderslug) 1547836871.0
Sometimes we simply have to laugh because none of this is normal.