The president’s long-time fixer continued to run inference for Donald Trump even after his former client was elected.
Michael Cohen, an attorney to the president until feds raided his home and office, reportedly reviewed articles and photos related to Trump before they appeared in the National Enquirer.
The David Pecker owned company denied to the Washington Post that it gave the Trump friend and attorney early access to its content. But sources told the news publication that the information sharing occurred – and that it continued even after the president took office.
Michael Cohen, an attorney to the president until feds raided his home and office, reportedly reviewed articles and photos related to Trump before they appeared in the National Enquirer
Cohen has been under scrutiny by the federal government for a pay-off he made to a porn star on Trump’s behalf in the lead-up to the election. The feds are also sniffing around consulting contracts he shopped on the basis that he could provide insight on demand into President Trump.
Now the Washington Post reports that he was on the receiving end of articles and images related to Trump and the businessman’s opponents from the National Enquirer before they were published.
Sources told The Post that the practice continued even after Trump won elected office.
One source told the Post, ‘If it was a story specifically about Trump, then it was sent over to Michael, and as long as there were no objections from him, the story could be published.’
The allegation falls along the lines of the FBI’s interest in Cohen. He has been accused of breaking campaign finance laws.
He says he made a $130,000 payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels in the month preceding the general election as a routine exercise to protect his client. Cohen claims the payment was not specific to helping Trump win the Oval Office.
If the election motivated the charge that Trump says he did not know about at the time, Cohen could be charged with vastly exceeding federal campaign donation limits.
Since the raid, the president’s newest attorney has claimed that Trump repaid Cohen in monthly installments. The charge was backed up by recent financial documents.
AMI’s chief content officer, Dylan Howard, told The Post that its claims it gave Cohen prior review are ‘completely false’ as is reporting that ‘they had some sort of sway over who the magazine attacked on any given week’
Neither the president nor lawyer Rudy Giuliani has said when Trump first became aware of Daniels hush-money payoff. Trump has said, however, that he believes Cohen is getting an unfair deal.
‘I just heard that they broke into the office of one of my personal attorneys. Good man. And it’s a disgraceful situation. It’s a total witch hunt,’ he said just after the FBI raid in April. ‘It’s an attack on our country…It’s an attack on what we all stand for.’
Federal prosecutors have since subpoenaed Pecker’s company, American Media Inc., the Post reported, in conjunction with their probe into Cohen.
AMI’s chief content officer, Dylan Howard, told The Post that its claims it gave Cohen prior review are ‘completely false’ as is reporting that ‘they had some sort of sway over who the magazine attacked on any given week.’
If stories were shared with Trump and his fixer, Howard said, ‘It was not at the behest of me or David.
‘And quite frankly, if they were shared,’ he said, ‘I’m a little concerned because people are acting as rogues and renegades.’