Buzzfeed has been one of the key leaders in trumpeting the Russia!Collusion!OrangeManBad! stories. So much so that the publication has been laughed out of the room and debunked more times than I can count over the Steele Dossier. Now that the Mueller Report has landed, what does Buzzfeed do? Issue an interesting tap dance explaining why they ran with both the Steele Dossier and bogus Cohen story.

“This Jan. 18, a day after BuzzFeed News reported that Michael Cohen told prosecutors that the president had directed him to lie to Congress, the special counsel’s office issued a vague but forceful rebuttal of our story.

“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,” Robert Mueller’s spokesman, Peter Carr, said.”

Buzzfeed got media attention for that.

However, the  Mueller team pushed back against Buzzfeed’s assertions.

You have to know that Buzzfeed was ticked off at this. Especially since they have been the ones who were among the first to out the Trump!Russia!Collusion! mess in the first place. Steele Dossier anyone?

The very same Steele Dossier that has been shown, even prior to the Mueller report, that it is so full of holes its a miracle there was anything there. A dossier that has been proven time and again to be nothing but salacious rumors masquerading as intelligence. A dossier that has been debunked by many in the intelligence community, with the exception of the deep staters who harbor a virulent hatred of Trump.

The Mueller Report is pretty darned clear. What Buzzfeed reported about Michael Cohen…didn’t happen. At. All.

BuzzFeed story turns out not to be true…

“The evidence available to us does not establish that the president directed or aided Cohen’s false testimony.” pic.twitter.com/tpHCQgCP2R

— Andrew Desiderio (@desiderioDC) April 18, 2019

Yet Buzzfeed is so positive that Trump really did this that they ran with this explainer yesterday. 

“As a matter of what constitutes a crime, Mueller has the last word, and his characterization has the force of law. (We’ll be updating our original story with a link to this piece.)

But that isn’t the only question. So I’d also like to share an accounting of how we came to our characterization, to give our audience and people who reasonably raised questions about our reporting as much information as possible about how the story came to be.

Our story was based on detailed information from senior law enforcement sources. That reporting included documents — specifically, pages of notes that were taken during an interview of Cohen by the FBI. In those notes, one law enforcement source wrote that “DJT personally asked Cohen to say negotiations ended in January and White House counsel office knew Cohen would give false testimony to Congress. Sanctioned by DJT. Joint lawyer team reviewed letter Cohen sent to SSCI about his testimony about Trump Tower moscow, et al, knowing it contained lies.”

The law enforcement source also wrote: “Cohen told OSC” — the Office of Special Counsel — “he was asked to lie by DJT/DJT Jr., lawyers.””

Except that the Mueller report explicitly states that there was not a single shred of evidence available proving that Trump said nor even told Cohen to lie to anyone, nor was there the obstruction they hoped for.

Why is Buzzfeed doubling down? Trump Derangement Syndrome for one, given that they referred to the idiotic pee tapes in another story. Buried deep in that story is the admission that the information is still unverified.

Yet what does Buzzfeed do? Dig in their heels. This is what Anthony Cormier had to say then.

With BuzzFeed officially responding to Mueller's report contradicting their Jan. 18 story, here is what they said the week it was published: I have further confirmation that this is right, we're being told to stand our ground. Our reporting is going to be borne out to be accurate pic.twitter.com/WfcwcIuYzh

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) April 19, 2019

"This is going to be borne out, Brian. This story is accurate."

"Our standards on this story were extremely high." pic.twitter.com/UlFsVPEvv4

— Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) April 19, 2019

What does he have to say now? Not a darned thing. Meanwhile, where is co-author Jason Leopold? Hiding I guess.

However, no matter how many times their stories on the Trump collusion with Russia, time and again their fish wrap stories have hit the skids.

This time, however, all their stories have collectively been shoved into the ditch because of the information in the Mueller report.

So Buzzfeed had a decision to make. Fold their tent and go quietly into the night, or go down swinging. Punching at clouds seems to be the choice.

Buzzfeed still crying “only a flesh wound!” despite all evidence that they way overstated their big scoop on Trump and Cohen

— Ivanka b4 Surgery (@HildyJohnsonA1) April 19, 2019

‘Only a flesh wound!’ indeed. Not only did Buzzfeed face plant on the Trump Cohen scoop, every story since then is suspect. Does Buzzfeed understand that? No, they certainly don’t given the explainer they published yesterday afternoon.

Trump Derangement Syndrome is bad news for the media. Buzzfeed evidently hasn’t gotten that memo.

Feature Photo Credit: Pixabay.com, cropped and modified