President Donald Trump has consistently said that he did not collude with Russia in the 2016 election and has labeled investigations into allegations that he did a "witch hunt." | Martin H. Simon - Pool/Getty Images White House Trump dismisses BuzzFeed report, accuses Cohen of trying to reduce sentence

President Donald Trump on Friday seemingly dismissed a BuzzFeed report that he instructed his former attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress, suggesting that Cohen is looking to reduce his forthcoming sentence after pleading guilty to federal criminal charges.

"Kevin Corke, @FoxNews 'Don’t forget, Michael Cohen has already been convicted of perjury and fraud, and as recently as this week, the Wall Street Journal has suggested that he may have stolen tens of thousands of dollars....'" the president wrote on Twitter, quoting the Fox News correspondent.


"Lying to reduce his jail time! Watch father-in-law!" the president added, referring to Cohen, his longtime personal lawyer and fixer.

The president allegedly directed Cohen to lie to lawmakers about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to a report from BuzzFeed News published late Thursday. POLITICO has not independently verified BuzzFeed's reporting, which cites two federal law enforcement officials.

Cohen, who is cooperating with prosecutors, was sentenced in December to three years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of tax fraud and lying to Congress. The former Trump attorney was also fined $50,000.

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Trump has consistently said that he did not collude with Russia in the 2016 election and has labeled investigations into allegations that he did a "witch hunt." Special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether Moscow colluded with the president's 2016 campaign, and has widened the probe to include possible obstruction of justice by the president.

Deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley, in an interview with Fox News on Friday, attacked BuzzFeed for its reporting, but did not appear to flatly deny the allegations.

Instead, he cast doubt on the online media outlet's credibility, which first published a controversial and unverified intelligence dossier suggesting that the Russian government has compromising information about Trump.

"This is absolutely ludicrous that we are giving any type of prudence or credibility to a news outlet like BuzzFeed," he said. "They are irresponsible, responsible totally and completely for the publishing of totally and completely false dossier."

When asked whether the president didn't order Cohen to lie, Gidley sidestepped the question.

"This is why the president refuses to give any credence or credibility to news outlets, because they have no ability to corroborate anything they're putting out there," he said. "They are just using innuendo, shady sources."

Gidley said the premise of the question is ridiculous because he said Cohen is a liar.

"We are also talking about Michael Cohen, quite frankly, has been proven to be a liar," Gidley said. "He seldom admits that he is a felon."