you heard me discuss some of them with ben. in terps of those reporters standing by the story. when he says these reporters absolutely pushed our understanding in what the trump tower moscow scandal is. it s true they did the definitive reporting in terms of us understanding how big the trump tower moscow project was, how long it went on for. it was buzz feed s reporting on that story that i think laid the groundwork for us to understand what anybody was talking about when michael cohen turned up in court in november to plead guilty to lying to congress related to his previous testimony about trump tower moscow. all these things are moving parts. these have proven to be well-sourced reporters who have been ahead of everybody else and whose previous reporting is born out later in court by things said by the special counsel. there s reporting questions here. there s very interesting questions about why the special counsel s office is speaking up on this story when they almost speak on no
other people to be charged with related crimes, would this pushback from the special counsel s office on buzz feed s report tonight, if that means that s not where this was going after all, then how do we explain that part of the story? how do we understand that random stand-alone, no punishment after the fact charge brought by mueller, even after it was clear cohen was already going to jail on these other crimes? i have just the person to ask. that s next. i get unlimited 1.5% cash back. it s so simple, i don t even have to think about it. so i think about mouthfeel. i don t think about the ink card. i think about nitrogen ice cream in supermarkets all over the world. i think about the details. fine, i obsess over the details. think about every part of your business except the one part that works without a thought. your ink card. chase ink business unlimited. chase ink business unlimited, with unlimited 1.5% cash back on every purchase. chase for business. make more of what s yours.
reporter, from ronan farrow, who won the pulitzer prize last year for his reporting on the me too movement. ronan farrow just posted this. i can t speak to buzzfeed s sourcing but for what it s worth, i declined to run with parts of the narrative they conveyed based on a source central to the story repeatedly disputing the idea that trump directly issued orders of that kind. note that the general thrust of cohen lying to congress in accordance with or to support and advance trump s agenda per cohen s legal memo is not in dispute. more specific idea that trump issued and memorialized repeated direct instructions. again, that being posted tonight by ronan farrow. saying basically he had access to, as he puts it, parts of the narrative that buzzfeed conveyed in their story and felt it was so strongly disputed by a single source central to the story that he did not run with it himself.
we ve got an acting attorney general there now. there s different reporting about whether or not the acting attorney general matt whitaker or rod rosenstein is overseeing the investigation or dealing with important developments of the investigation on a day-by-day basis. do you have any concern the statement from the special counsel s office might be an effort to dissuade you and dissituate your reporters from pursuing this even if it is accurate? just because it either interferes with the special counsel s investigation in some way or is otherwise too uncomfortable as territory for this justice department? i mean, you know, there s these are some of the best lawyers in america here. this statement is obviously crafted by lawyers to mean something. it is not totally clear what it means. but, you know, i think we would like to know. it s hard to speculate when you aren t really clear on what it means. do you have anything you can tell us in terms of what to expect? obviously if th
assuming you will do that. if you can add to your reporting in a way that pushes the special counsel on this dispute, i imagine we will hear that from your reporters as well? yes, continuing to, you know, obviously tonight report very, very hard on this. one thing worth noting, this is a specific line of the russia investigation. the trump tower moscow story. which these reporters were way, way out in front of, broke the elements of, that did sit out there for a while last year. so this isn t coming out of a blue sky. and this is a line of reporting that has been repeatedly been the case. ben smith, buzz feed s editor in chief. very kinetic moment it must be. ben, thank you. appreciate it. thank you, rachel. so this has been a rollicking day on this story, the bombshell pushback from the special counsel s office on the bombshell reporting from buzz feed has created questions.