Fox News host Tucker Carlson torched BuzzardFeed editor Ben Smith during a fiery debate where he asked Smith why his cat-centric blog hasn’t corrected a debunked story about former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen.

“Here you have Cohen and the Mueller investigation both debunking the so-called bombshell that you ran in January. And you are refusing to admit it’s been debunked.

I just played two pieces of tape of Michael Cohen saying what BuzzFeed says is not true. But you’re claiming it is still true. On what ground? The piece said he was directed to lie.”

‘This Isn’t Nixon, We Don’t Have Audio’

Ben Smith stammered back on Tucker Carlson Tonight:

“This isn’t Nixon. We don’t have audio. Is it explicit? I think that’s a reasonable argument that reasonable people can have.

But the idea that this has been debunked, that this is a hoax [is wrong]. The whole story has moved to a place where we’re having a much narrower dispute here, Tucker.”

Cohen and Mueller Both Deny BuzzFeed Report

Here’s some background: In January 2019, BuzzFeed ran a “bombshell” story claiming that President Trump had directed Cohen to lie to Congress.

During his Feb. 27 testimony before the House Oversight Committee, Cohen debunked the story when he said: “Mr. Trump did not directly tell me to lie to Congress.”

Right after BuzzFeed ran its piece, even special counsel Robert Mueller issued a rare public statement denying BuzzFeed’s claims. Mueller’s office 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.”

BuzzardFeed Refuses to Admit It Was Wrong

Despite denials from both Mueller and Cohen, BuzzFeed still stands by its story. On what basis, other than Trump Derangement Syndrome-induced stubbornness? Carlson reiterated:

“Your story said — and I’m again quoting it — ‘Trump explicitly told Cohen to lie.’

Cohen was asked twice by two separate Democratic members of Congress if that was true. He had every reason to say it was true, but he said it was untrue.

So why not just say, ‘Maybe parts of our story were right, but we got over our skis. We went too far. We made a claim we can’t back up and the subject of the allegation now denies and we admit it?’

Why not just say that?”

Ben Smith doubled-down on BuzzFeed’s discredited “bombshell” by insisting that while Trump may not have explicitly ordered Cohen to lie (even though its story claimed he did), he still suggested that Cohen lie to Congress.

The circular debate went on for a few minutes, but nothing got resolved because Smith refused to acknowledge the fact that the BuzzFeed story was debunked.

While BuzzFeed wants people to take its reporting seriously, this is the type of hard-hitting “journalism” that’s its bread-and-butter (see below).

Maybe its pattern of pushing puff pieces and leftist propaganda is why the blog was recently forced to lay off 250 employees.

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Samantha Chang

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Samantha Chang is a senior staff writer for BizPac Review. She is a financial editor and lawyer based in New York City.

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