President Donald Trump is accusing his former personal attorney of "lying to reduce his jail time!" after published a report saying Trump had asked his ex-fixer, Michael Cohen, to lie to Congress in 2017.

Trump tweeted that Cohen is "Lying to reduce his jail time!" even though he's already been sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to tax crimes, bank fraud and campaign violations.

On Fox News Channel, White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said that the BuzzFeed story was "absolutely ludicrous," but he repeatedly refused to deny the central allegation: that Trump directed Cohen to lie.

One of Gidley's interviewers noted at one point: "That was not a denial of my question." The Democratic chairmen of two House committees pledged Friday to investigate the report, which cites two unnamed law enforcement officials.

The Associated Press has not independently confirmed the report.

(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)