Special counsel Robert Mueller’s office made the rare move of publicly disputing a report that claimed President Trump ordered his former lawyer and personal fixer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress about a Russian real-estate deal.

The Friday night response from the special counsel’s office came as the BuzzFeed News report caused the chairmen of two House committees to call for investigations into the explosive allegations.

“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,” a spokesman for Mueller’s office, Peter Carr, said in the statement.

BuzzFeed editor in chief Ben Smith expressed confidence Friday night that the story was accurate.

“We stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge the special counsel to make clear what he’s disputing,” Smith said in a tweet.

The news site, citing two unnamed law-enforcement officials, reported that Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress about a Trump Tower project in Moscow and that Cohen regularly briefed Trump and two of his children on the project.

The article adds that the special counsel’s office learned about the alleged order through internal e-mails from the Trump Organization, text messages, several witness accounts and a “cache of other documents.”

As part of a plea deal with prosecutors, Cohen admitted that he falsely testified to Congress that discussions for a Trump Tower project in Moscow ended in January 2016, when they actually extended to June.

In December, Cohen was sentenced to three years for lying to Congress and other financial crimes. He admitted in court documents that he briefed Trump about his contacts with Russian officials and that he spoke to Trump’s team before his false testimony to Congress, but he did not say the president directed him to lie.

After the BuzzFeed report was published Thursday night, Democratic lawmakers vowed to investigate if it was true.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said “we will do what’s necessary to find out” if the report is true.

He added the allegation that Trump directed Cohen to lie in his 2017 testimony to Congress “in an effort to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among the most serious to date.”

At least one Democratic congressman said Trump would have to resign or face impeachment if the report held water.

“If the @BuzzFeed story is true, President Trump must resign or be impeached,” Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas tweeted after the story was posted Thursday night.

In a tweet on Friday night, Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani praised the special counsel’s office for releasing the statement.

“I commend Bob Mueller’s office for correcting the BuzzFeed false story that Pres. Trump encouraged Cohen to lie,” Giuliani wrote. “I ask the press to take heed that their hysterical desire to destroy this President has gone too far. They pursued this without critical analysis all day. #FAKENEWS”

With Post Wires