[jariel]

You misread what I wrote.

I didn't say they were protecting their credibility or not.

I said they wouldn't say anything that lacked credibility.

I'm saying the Mueller team is not going to lie, whatever they are saying. They are careful and deliberate.

[jacobolus]

> I said they wouldn't say anything that lacked credibility.

Yes that was precisely my point: the Mueller team made a correction out of an abundance of “careful and deliberate” caution.

They did not want the public to misconstrue the Buzzfeed News article’s language that Trump had “directed” Cohen to lie to mean that the Special Counsel’s office had uncovered an explicit statement to that effect. The main thrust of Buzzfeed’s reporting is clearly correct, but Mueller’s office wanted no room for misinterpretation based on differing understandings of the word “direct”.

I don’t understand why you would say you were “exceedingly doubtful” only to repeat my same argument.

[jariel]

I was actually agreeing with you by making a more general point, i.e. irrespective of the specifics, Mueller et. al. are super credible so I think we should take what they say as effectively the truth.

Re-reading it, I see how someone might think I was disagreeing.