#pee tape

Not only were they the ones that broke the story of the infamous dossier, was put together by British Agent Christopher Steele, which included the allegation that President Trump paid prostitutes to urinate on a bed in a Russian hotel that the Obamas had slept in, called “the pee pee tape” by some. According to journalists the dossier had been offered to several news outlets, but all the others passed on it because they found it to be too salacious and (at the time) not verifiable enough. BuzzFeed News published it even before Trump took the oath of office, and only last December a federal judge confirmed that BuzzFeed upheld the First Amendment by publishing the Dossier.

And now BuzzFeed News has published a new story which paints Trump in the worst light possible. A source in the Justice Department, claiming to have knowledge of the inner workings of the Mueller Probe, revealed that Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen was instructed by the President to lie about the plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow to Congress, and that Robert Mueller has proof of that. (He claimed that the plans were abandoned in January 2016, while the plans continued to June 2016). He was convicted for lying to 3 years in prison, but the information that Trump instructed him to do so is new. Immediately calls for impeachment increased in volume and intensity, and Trump enemies saw their chance to finally "get” him, and congress called for inquiries into the 

Only problem: apparently this did not happen. While the Mueller probe usually does not comment on reports about their work, here they made it a point that the claims in the BuzzFeed News story is factually not correct. “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,” says Mueller’s spokesman Peter Carr. BuzzFeed however stands by their reporting, with the editor in chief on Twitter urging the Mueller Office to clarify which parts of the report they are disputing. 

Unfortunately, this handed the Trump administration a victory they were not expecting in a week of chaos. Fox News pundits rose to attack the democrats, Mueller and the news media (which of course they are not a part of), and Trump took to twitter to spew hatred:

There is no knowing what is actually true at this point. Does BuzzFeed trust the wrong person in the Justice Department? Is the source lying? Is Mueller only disputing some of the facts? Is the probe trying to quiet down the conversation to save their investigation? What will the final report say? (And will we ever get to see it?) You can put on your own conspiracy hats and come up with an idea, nobody is any closer to the truth. 

But fact is, BuzzFeed has probably not done themselves any favors by publishing a piece that must have irked Robert Mueller so much that he broke his silence. And it’s a fact that no matter what actually happened, the Trumpists have won this fight; should the Mueller Probe come out with a clarification, the right-wing media will probably not report on it in the way that they criticize BuzzFeed at the moment for the first Mueller statement. So, in the minds of the Trump voter, BuzzFeed has lied and that’s all they know about it. 

So, Media outlets, I’m not telling you to not publish reports like this! It’s what you do, it’s more important than ever in an age where every single part of the government is part of the issue, and without you, we would be in a very different place. The First Amendment is essential. 

But. BUT. Please find out what went wrong here and rectify it. This cannot happen again. Make your stories as air-tight as you possibly can; Trump cannot have more wins by claiming something is fake news. You’re not doing yourself or us any favors. This is important and for us, as readers, absolutely imperative. We need to be able to rely on your reporting. Your job is to speak truth to power and therefore you need to speak the truth. 

I’m excited to find out what actually comes from this story. And, I will be honest, I hope it turns out to be true. But I want to know. So get on it, Media.