Are we to believe Cohen lied on his own? Trump would not want voters to know he was negotiating a hotel in Moscow while running for President. We are to believe he said nothing about this to his personal lawyer who was about to testify before Congress? That is a bit of a stretch, isn't it?
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday...-trump-tower-moscow-discussions-took-place-up
Paul Farhi in an Op/Ed in the the Washington
Post said this morning, "The fact that the normally buttoned-up special counsel’s office felt compelled to issue a statement suggests that the story’s conclusions were too baldly stated and too consequential to stay unchallenged.
In effect, Mueller’s office seemed to be saying that BuzzFeed went too far and got some things wrong, though it did not say how or what."
We know that Mueller does not leak, and this came from "two federal law enforcement officials
involved in an investigation of the matter." That has to carry some validity. Some observers think Mueller is feeling deeply proprietary about his evidence and does not want premature disclosure of
interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization, internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents.
That would explain why Mueller could not explain how or what
BussFeed got wrong.
It should be noted that Mueller did not deny the accusation that Trump asked Cohen to lie. He said, "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."
In other words,
Mueller was solely concerned about his evidence.
This is, of course, all rank speculation, and you may well be right on most of what you say. On the other hand I would contend, the "premature" publication of evidence is not of sufficient import for Mueller to break his silence. Trump and his team know that everything found during the Cohen raid is available to Mueller. Whatever Cohen documented during the run-up to his lies to Congress, including emails, text messages, Mueller has everything, and Trump knows it. So, what really is the damage due to the Buzzfeed story? Nil, as far as I can see. Moreover, if Buzzfeed was correct, Mueller wouldn't say or imply they are not.
Where this really hinges is the exact nature of the cooperation between Trump and Cohen related to Cohen's false testimony. Buzzfeed alleged that Trump required Cohen "to lie". I think you are right that Trump in some form compelled Cohen to testify as he did. All else makes no sense. But, there may well be ways and manners of lawyerly communication that do not amount to "Lie to Congress!" Like, for instance: "It'd be too bad if your (Cohen's) contacts to Russians during the primaries were to become public knowledge." With that, Cohen knows what to do, and that's well below "lie to Congress!" And that's what I would describe as "inaccurate". Either the prosecutors who leaked to Buzzfeed, or the folks at Buzzfeed, quite understandably concluded "Trump told Cohen to lie". That conclusion, however, may not be legally valid, and mischaracterize what Mueller's team learned.
Suborning perjury and obstruction of justice, as implied by Buzzfeed, would be valid grounds to start impeachment proceedings. Mueller, I am convinced, felt compelled to act to stop that in its tracks, since it would gravely damage Congress, and also the investigation in case Mueller sat on exculpatory evidence and let the impeachment run its course.
Again, all this is rank speculation, but I find it's the most compelling explanation for why Mueller acted, and how.