Robert Mueller disputes bombshell report that claimed Trump ordered Cohen to lie to Congress

Robert Mueller has issued a rare public statement disputing a bombshell report alleging that Donald Trump ordered his former lawyer to lie to Congress.

BuzzFeed, citing two unidentified law enforcement officials, reported that Mr Trump directed Michael Cohen to lie about a Moscow real estate project.

It said Cohen told Mr Mueller that Mr Trump had personally told him to lie about the timing of the project.

The report said Mr Mueller's investigators learned about Mr Trump's directive "through interviews with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organisation and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents".

It added that Cohen acknowledged Mr Trump's instructions when he was interviewed by Mr Mueller's team.

However Mr Mueller’s spokesman, Peter Carr, said: "BuzzFeed's description of specific statements to the special counsel's office, and characterisation of documents and testimony obtained by this office, regarding Michael Cohen's congressional testimony are not accurate."

Buzzfeed spokesman Matt Mittenthal said the publication stands by its reporting and to "stay tuned" as they worked to determine what Mr Mueller was denying.

Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of BuzzFeed News, also said the publication stands by its reporting and the sources who informed it.

"We urge the special counsel to make clear what he's disputing," Mr Smith said.

Immediately after the special counsel's statement was issued, Mr Trump retweeted several posts that called the story fake news.

He later tweeted: "A very sad day for journalism, but a great day for our Country!"

Mr Trump's lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, tweeted: "I commend Bob Mueller's office for correcting the BuzzFeed false story that Pres Trump encouraged Cohen to lie.

"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."

The extraordinary statement from Mr Mueller's office came after Democrats had vowed to investigate whether the report was true, calling that possibility a "concern of the greatest magnitude".

Any evidence that Mr Trump directed a witness to lie to investigators would place him in the greatest political and legal jeopardy yet.

Mr Giuliani said in a statement earlier on Friday that "any suggestion - from any source - that the President counseled Michael Cohen to lie is categorically false".

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders called the allegation "absolutely ridiculous".

On Twitter on Friday morning, Mr Trump charged that Cohen was "Lying to reduce his jail time!"

Cohen pleaded guilty in November to lying to Congress to cover up that he was negotiating the Trump Tower project on Mr Trump's behalf during the heat of his presidential campaign.

The charge was brought by Mr Mueller and was the result of Cohen's cooperation with that probe.

Cohen admitted that he lied when he told lawmakers he had never agreed to travel to Russia in connection with the Moscow project and when he said that, by the end of January 2016, he decided the "proposal was not feasible for a variety of business reasons and should not be pursued further".

He was sentenced to three years in prison for crimes that included arranging the payment of hush money to conceal his boss' alleged sexual affairs.

He told a judge that he agreed time and again to cover up Mr Trump's "dirty deeds" out of "blind loyalty".