Mainstream media members and outlets might as well “be paid as lobbyists of the DNC [Democratic National Committee] at this point.” That’s because they’re always “carrying the Democrats’ baggage” and chasing after every anti-Trump story they can get their hands on, Donald Trump Jr. said Monday night during an exclusive interview on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.”
Trump Jr. (pictured above left), President Donald Trump’s eldest child, reacted to BuzzFeed’s now-discredited bombshell report from last week alleging the president directed former lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about the plans for a Trump Tower in Moscow.
BuzzFeed’s Anthony Cormier and Jason Leopold wrote a report published late last Thursday, “President Trump Directed His Attorney Michael Cohen To Lie To Congress About The Moscow Tower Project.”
Cohen, who found himself in special counsel Robert Mueller’s crosshairs, has already been sentenced to three years in prison for campaign finance violations, tax evasion and lying to Congress regarding Trump’s business dealings in Russia prior to the Trump presidency.
The BuzzFeed piece said Cohen lied to Congress about the failed negotiations for a Trump Tower in Moscow at Trump’s direction — and it cited two anonymous “federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation of the matter.”
The sources apparently told the reporters the president directed Cohen to lie “by claiming that negotiations ended months earlier than they actually did.”
The report also implicated Trump Jr. and Ivanka Trump, the president eldest daughter.
If true, the report would cause serious problems for Trump and his family members and show he obstructed justice by suborning perjury.
But Mueller’s team issued a rare public statement on Friday rebuking BuzzFeed for its report and disputing its allegations.
“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,” Mueller spokesman Peter Carr said in the statement.
Trump Jr. told Fox News host Laura Ingraham that mainstream media outlets “need” bombshell reports like BuzzFeed’s that have been discredited “to be true.”
“This has gone on time and time again,” Trump Jr. said. “They have been pushing this nonsense for two years. They have found nothing. But any time there’s a negative, any time there’s a chance to get Trump, they’re going to jump on it.”
The president’s son also rebuked media outlets such as CNN for lavishing the BuzzFeed report with extensive coverage with the caveat, “if true.”
Related: Trump Team Spoke with Mueller Team About Discredited BuzzFeed Report, Says Giuliani
The media “jump on it each and every time, you know, and cover themselves with the, ‘Well, if true, if true.’ If you’re not sure it’s true, don’t push it for 14 hours straight,” Trump Jr. said. “And the media right now [are] really trying to subvert this democracy. They have done more to hurt the credibility of this country’s institution as a democracy than anything in history.”
As for the potential Moscow Trump Tower negotiations, Trump Jr. said, “The reality is this wasn’t a deal, you know — we don’t know the developer. We don’t know the site. We don’t know the — anything about it.”
“Ultimately it was Michael Cohen essentially trying to get a deal done. You know, he was there for a long time. He wasn’t exactly a deal guy. Didn’t bring too many to the table, so I don’t think anyone took it all that seriously,” he added. “That’s the reality of what went on.”
“With the media carrying the Democrats’ baggage, they’ll say whatever they want.”
Trump Jr., who has come under scrutiny for his June 2016 meeting with a Russian lawyer at Trump Tower during his father’s presidential campaign, said, “I’ve done 25 hours of testimony on a 20-minute meeting. This has been the greatest witch hunt in America history — perhaps world history.”
“The American people don’t take this stuff seriously anymore. They look at these people like jokers at this point,” Trump Jr. said. “But with the media carrying the Democrats’ baggage, they’ll say whatever they want. They should be paid as lobbyists of the DNC at this point.”
Trump Jr. initially reacted to BuzzFeed’s report and one of the reporter’s interviews on CNN last week on Twitter, writing, “Here we go again … another CNN/Buzzfeed ‘bombshell’ with no evidence. The usual clickbait BS … and when it fails as all the others have there will be ZERO coverage. Textbook #fakenews.”
Here we go again… another CNN/Buzzfeed "bombshell" with no evidence. The usual clickbait BS… and when it fails as all the others have there will be ZERO coverage. Textbook #fakenews https://t.co/VNHN9ndz36
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) January 18, 2019
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