Page 251 - Buzzfeed News Today

Joining us now is ben smith, the editor in chief of buzzfeed. thank you for copping and doing this. i really appreciate it. >> thank you for having me on. >> one year since you published the dossier. you have talked about the internal decisions, the internal process that you went through in terms of figuring out whether or not to do this. i have some very specific questions about the dossier and you can tell me to -- you wont answer them. >> i dont know if i have answers or not. >> seems like th...

Arent relevant anymore about, you know, what are we going to keep -- what are the whole categories of information, particularly about presidential health, presidential affairs in the old days to decide to keep from your audience. but, you know, that was part of -- i think that was part of the backlash. that wasnt so much part of the decision and thought this was just clearly in the public interest and if nbc had it they should have published it. >> now nobody saying it shouldnt have happened. >>...

...down-alternative pillows... ...and of course, price. tripadvisor helps you book a... ...hotel without breaking a sweat. because we now instantly... ...search over 200 booking sites ...to find you the lowest price... ...on the hotel you want. dont sweat your booking. tripadvisor. the latest reviews. the lowest prices. new this morning. the presidents personal lawyer is suing over the trump russia dossier. michael cohen is arguing that buzzfeed, and fusion gps defamed him. >> the lawsuit come...

That respect. if the contents of the document are libelist, if thats what he thinks, then he can sue the authors of the report. but i think buzzfeed as a news organization is pretty well insulated from that sort of lawsuit. it is the type of bluster we have seen in the administration with the threatening of lawsuits or lawsuits that dont actually go anywhere as a means of suppressing conversation, which is obviously problematic. can i add one thing, though, don, about this? fusion gps testimony ...

Do they come at all? they certainly would be presuming that there is no such thing as private testimony, if one senator can simply release it. so i think that may change the dynamic for the witnesses, not in a way that the ordinary public will see, but it may slow the flow of information into the congressional investigations at least. >> laura, before you respond to that, because michael cohn is saying that the allegations raised against him and theres a statement, but i dont have the transcript...

Says he wants to sue buzzfeed for publishing part of the dossier and then well get to it in a minute, the president giving himself rave reviews for yesterday. what was that? >> lets look whats out there. this morning he sent out s. tweets about the dossier for a number of reasons. one because dianne feinstein released the transcript of that, the testimony of this big executive of the company that helped fund the dossier. and also because last night, his personal attorney who was a friend of his ...

Statements. whenever grassley says its going to make it harder to bring in witnesses in the future, and usually they do have that if they release transcripts over their objection, and in this case the witness himself is asking for the transcript to be made public. how that would affect somebody like jared kushner moving forward, its hard to understand the logic. >> and then any legal grand to stand out here to sue buzzfeed, and does he have a high burden to disprove the claims in the dossier? >>...

C-o-h-e-n, michael cohen is suing fusion gps, which is behind the dossier as well as buzz fe "buzzfeed" news for publishing the entire dossier a year ago. ive talked to some legal experts. this could be a risky move for michael cohen. >> reporter: no question. he presumably would have to sit for a deposition and his wife perhaps would also have to agree to do that. the standard for evidentiary standard in the discovery process is pretty low, jake. that means a whole range of documents could pres...

Cooperation in the senate judiciary committee. >> simpson also would not reveal who steeles sources were. even saying one of the russian sources had been killed. we now know from our own sources that comment was in reference to the string of debts of high profile russians in the aftermath of the 2016 elections. now, this all comes as trumps personal lawyer, michael coe hen, announced plans to sue both fusion gps and the news organization buzzfeed over his concerns over defamation. he says the wi...

>> i was trying to find a nice way to say it. who is no longer with us. >> and again, that is not cnns reporting. >> exactly. that was one of the names that was thrown out. >> michael, president trumps attorney told cnns brian stelter he filed a defamation lawsuit against buzzfeed. ryan got a statement and said the dossier continues to be an active investigation by congress and intelligence agencies. it was presented to two successive presidents. it has been described in detail by news outlets a...