- The Washington Times - Sunday, January 20, 2019

Vice President Mike Pence decried Sunday the media’s “obsession” with tearing down President Trump after last week’s uproar over a since-disputed report in BuzzFeed.

“I think what it says more about is the obsession of many in the national media to attack this president for any reason, for any allegation, for any report in the media,” Mr. Pence said on “Fox News Sunday.”

“It was remarkable for what we saw happening for 24 hours in the media on the basis of the report that appeared in BuzzFeed,” he said. “And I just think it’s one of the reasons why people are so frustrated with many in the national media and the constant obsession on this.”

The Thursday report, citing “two federal law enforcement sources,” alleged that Mr. Trump told his then-lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations on the Trump Tower in Moscow, which a spokesman for special counsel Robert Mueller has disputed.

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

The explosive report received extensive news coverage and fueled speculation that the charges, if true, would represent an impeachable offense.

The president has frequently ripped what he describes as the Mueller “witch hunt” over Russia collusion, but Mr. Pence noted that “the president expressed his appreciation to the special counsel for clarifying that that report was inaccurate.”

“This was a week where I think the American people saw the hyper partisanship among Democrats to assume the worst about this president and many in the national media’s willingness to assume the worst about the president,” Mr. Pence said.

• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.

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