Unlike several posting here this evening, I don't KNOW exactly what the statement from the

[Atticus]

Special Counsel's Office means and I don't KNOW exactly what evidence there may or may not be to corroborate Cohen's statement that Trump ordered him to lie to Congress. So, I am not yet persuaded that the sky is falling or that Mr. Leopold should be lynched.

I do find the statement by Mr. Carr to be curiously and carefully worded. I am sure that words like "false" and "untrue" are known to Mr. Mueller and his team, but they chose to use neither. I also don't really know how to interpret the fact that, given the opportunity to comment on the article BEFORE it was published, the SCO had no comment. I also note that one of the reporters responsible for the story is a Pulitzer prize winning journalist and that SINCE Mr. Carr's statement was released, Buzzfeed has said it stands by the substance of the piece.

We should not care that Trump will, of course, crow about how this proves the whole investigation is "fake news" unless we respect his opinion.

I'm no smarter than anyone else here, but I don't think all the hyperventilation is yet justified. I will wait.

[Cetacea]

1. They are standing by their story

I trust the people who bought us the Steele Dossier. Mueller's statement was by no means a flat denial.

[RHMerriman]

2. Seconded...

The SCO statement was parsed to the nth degree.

[oberliner]

5. Don't forget the Karl Rove indictment story

[FSogol]

14. Remember the Alamo!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. LMFAO

[OilemFirchen]

17. How can we forget...

if you keep bringing it up?

[Codeine]

12. Ten business days. nt

[Generic Brad]

3. Congress gets one shot at impeachment

It had better be irrefutable at every level. There is no margin for error or hyperbole.

Just because we wanted this to be true, doesn't mean it was.

[eallen]

21. The House can impeach every month if it wants.

Double jeopardy doesn't apply, because impeachment doesn't put the accused in jeopardy of "life or limb." The only risk is the bar to holding office. It's not a criminal trial.

[Generic Brad]

24. That is not politically expedient

Unless the senate is ready to roll, its wasted energy.

[uponit7771]

33. Impeachment sets a standard and differentiates lawfulness from lawlessness

[bitterross]

4. I'm with you.

The statement is not clear in the least.

[mastermind]

6. Its just damage control, I can imagine the orange hitler is throwing a "yuge" fit and demanding

action or heads will roll!

[yardwork]

7. Let's wait for Mueller's report.

I don't think it's a good idea for news outlets to try to scoop Mueller. It risks messing up his case. It risks ratfucking.

It's not the end of the world. It's a warning. Calm down and slow down. Let Mueller do his work.

[Pobeka]

8. I think our side may know how to play the distraction game too.

Not totally sure, but it's sure nice to have Trump's attention directed at someone other than Mueller, or our congress folks.

[Ford_Prefect]

9. I thought the Rick Wilson tweet referred to elsewhere was on point.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100211692246

This seems a matter of interpretation (the Buzzfeed news story I mean).

Mueller is not going to court nor to Congress with the speculations of journalists or propaganda hawks. He will refer cases based on substantial evidence and proven fact as he did against the Mafia.

Congress would be wise to do the same in pursuing possible impeachment investigations.

[Pepsidog]

10. Cautious optimism, for sure, but much worse to come, of that I am certain.

[OilemFirchen]

11. Well said.

I got a kick out of one of the hyperventilators interjecting a non-sequitur because he just can't help himself.

That was precious!

[FSogol]

13. It was!

[ismnotwasm]

16. Agree.

We all have want the nightmare to go away. At best, Trump seems very careless, so it’s easy to want to see some sort of end game through Mueller. Mostly, I don’t know what the hell is going on, I just know it’s a very sad and scary time.

[triron]

18. This statement by Carr was crafted by DOJ lawyers.

Question is : who ordered the crafting?

[czarjak]

19. Dotted I's and crossed T's?

[Silver Gaia]

20. I'm with you.

There's a world of difference between not accurate and not true! They chose their words VERY carefully. For a reason.

[radical noodle]

22. I'm with you

It's so carefully worded to NOT say the story is untrue, that I think they are attempting to clarify something that we'll only understand later.

[Iggo]

30. The description of specific statements was inaccurate.

That's some lawyer-speak right there.

[Hugin]

23. The only thing I know about this fiasco is Buzzfeed broke the Steele Dossier story...

and there's nothing the Trumplings and Ghouliani would like better than to see Buzzfeed discredited.

All else is noise and diversion.

[mr_lebowski]

26. I believe they published it, but the Dossier's existence was already publicly known well before (nt)

[Hugin]

31. By publishing it Buzzfeed proved the Dossier was real and people could read it's contents for...

themselves.

I certainly did.

The right wingers have had an ax out for Buzzfeed ever since. It's impending demise has been reported regularly on Trump Media Outlets.

The timing of this frenzied ad-hominem attack on Buzzfeed fits the pattern of discrediting sources perfectly.

If you can't destroy the message, destroy the messenger.

"BuzzFeed was harshly criticized by several mainstream media outlets for releasing the dossier without verifying its allegations. Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan called it "scurrilous allegations dressed up as an intelligence report meant to damage Donald Trump," while The New York Times noted that the publication sparked a debate centering on the use of unsubstantiated information from anonymous sources. BuzzFeed's executive staff said the materials were newsworthy because they were "in wide circulation at the highest levels of American government and media" and argued that this justified public release. The dossier's publication by BuzzFeed has always been defended by Jack Shafer, Politico's senior media writer, as well as by Richard Tofel of ProPublica and the Columbia Journalism Review. Shafer defended the public's right to know about the allegations against Trump, and saw a parallel in Judge Ungaro's ruling in the defamation suit filed by Aleksej Gubarev.

In relation to a defamation lawsuit filed by Gubarev against BuzzFeed, regarding their publication of the dossier, Senior Master Barbara Fontaine stated that Steele was "in many respects in the same position as a whistle-blower" because of his actions "in sending part of the dossier to Senator John McCain and a senior government national security official, and in briefing sections of the US media." She said that "it was not known who provided the dossier to BuzzFeed but Mr Steele's evidence was that he was 'horrified and remains horrified' that it was published at all, let alone without substantial redactions." Both Simpson and Steele have denied providing the dossier to BuzzFeed."

From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trump%E2%80%93Russia_dossier#Hints_of_existence

[mr_lebowski]

32. I'm responding to the claim they 'broke the story of the dossier', which is incorrect

Not disagreeing with your later points about them being hated by RW, btw

[mentalslavery]

25. He falsely reported that KARL ROVE was indicted...so they feed him the BS

knowing he would Dan Rather it all to hell.....thanks JASON.....

[Atticus]

34. That is not true. He reported something like "I have several sources who say

that Rove is ABOUT TO BE INDICTED." For various reasons, he was not.

[mentalslavery]

36. Nope...he reported that his sources said "Rove has been indicted in a sealed indictment"

which is very similar to this new bunk report...learn your history...Remember fitzmas...??

[Atticus]

37. I find that a Google search turns up " characterizations" of his actual reporting which agree with

you. I do not find your quote or it's equivalent. If you are correct, it does not change the tenor of my OP.

I don't have all the answers and I don't know anyone who does, but Bob Mueller has a lot of them.

[mentalslavery]

39. At the time, jason went on shultz's MSNBC show and said

he stood by his story that Karl Rove had been indicted in May in a sealed indictment and that Fitz was gonna unseal the indictment (Fitzmas) and that Rove was resigning in the wake of the soon to be unsealing of the indictment.

https://archive.is/20130202023036/http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2006/06/13/interview/print.html?blog=/politics/war_room/2006/06/13/interview/index.html

Also, a key context to this situation is that at the time jason said, "Until Fitz releases a statement denying that Rove has been indicted, I stand by my reporting". Hmmmnnn, maybe thats why Mueller IMMEDIATELY denied the accuracy of the claims???

Additionally, there is a wealth of reporting on this shady reporter and he has a history of "getting out over his ski's" on reporting or admittedly "just falsifying reports".

Furthermore, your right! Bob Mueller does have the answers and he released a statement yesterday saying that "buzzfeeds story is not accurate". So, it is a little strange that you would say that Mueller is the only one that knows and then deny what he knows. What else do you need?!?

We, on the left, can not get so caught up on what we want...(i really want it to be true toooooo!) cuz we fall into the same traps the right lays for their base.

Lastly, back in the Fitzmas days jason was all "Im not gonna reveal my sources even if it turns out I was burned" and before that he falsely reported information on an enron story claiming that he "had email verification of the information" only later to admit he could not produce the email. He was fired for that. I wonder if he will reveal his sources now considering he has be called out again......?!?

[mentalslavery]

40. Also...here is jasons "May 13th 2006" reporting that Rove was indicted

https://archive.is/XqcPB


"During the course of that meeting, Fitzgerald served attorneys for former Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove with an indictment charging the embattled White House official with perjury and lying to investigators related to his role in the CIA leak case, and instructed one of the attorneys to tell Rove that he has 24 business hours to get his affairs in order, high level sources with direct knowledge of the meeting said Saturday morning."

Use the way back machine on the google intertubes......cuz the internet is a series of tubes.....

[PDittie]

43. Leopold has been extremely problematic

going back to 2002 and Enron.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/18/media/buzzfeed-reporter-jason-leopold/index.html

His 2006 reporting on Rove's indictment (sic) roiled this forum; I remember that quite well. It spawned the "Fitzmas" celebration, where we all hoped Cheney and/or Rove would get frog-marched out of the White House for Valerie Plame's outing, but all we got was Scooter Libby ... and he got out of jail free by GWB, and pardoned by Trump.

(On the bright side, W did give Michelle that piece of candy at funeral. Two funerals, McCain's and his dad's, IIRC. So I guess everything's copacetic with the Dim Son now.)

[democratisphere]

27. No one knows ANYTHING for certain until the Mueller report is complete

and released to the public. Bits and pieces are often misleading and allow idiots to float false conclusions.

[klook]

28. Let's not forget that Trump has committed many crimes.

He is still extremely vulnerable for multiple felonies and potentially for other treasonous actions. Even if Leopold got Rathered, even if it’s never proven that Trump told Cohen to lie to Congress, there’s plenty more to pin on him, and plenty more that is worthy of impeachment.

I know a lot of us are in a Fitzmas mood tonight, but I think there is still plenty to be optimistic about. We need to keep pressuring our Senators, especially those of us “represented” by Republican Senators, to do something about Trump’s many high crimes and misdemeanors. And don’t forget the State of New York charges that will be hung around his flabby orange neck.

Take heart, everyone, and take a deep breath. Have a nice weekend, and let’s focus on honoring Dr. King Monday. The fight resumes next week.

[Atticus]

35. Thanks for the common sense optimism. nt

[saidsimplesimon]

29. "For now, we see through a glass darkly."

[UniteFightBack]

38. Yes...speculation abound! I was also thinking the talk of impeachment was really growing - perhaps

the Mueller team really needed the brakes put on that until they ready with their evidence. Therefore, they seized on any inaccuracy to make that rebuttal statement. Funny pundit on Joy just brought up how Mueller hasn't refuted any other reporting really...like rump is a russian agent for instance.

Maybe they are getting some really good intel outta dotard rump.

[mentalslavery]

41. NOOOOO....this is all just JASON LEOPOLD BS

read my previous post....dont go chasin waterfalls.....

[Atticus]

42. Even if you are correct about Leopold's past errors, that does not amount to

"This is all JUST JASON LEOPOLD BS".

[mentalslavery]

44. Mueller has told you its bs....so....

nt

[Atticus]

45. It is truly sad if you genuinely believe that. We're done here. nt

[mentalslavery]

46. Well...I already proved you wrong above multiple times, ironically just like jason

and you refuse to see it....HMnnnnnnn