A new report says AT&T paid President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, $600,000 for advice on its proposed purchase of Time Warner shortly after Trump’s election.
The Washington Post revealed the link Thursday, citing internal documents outlining why AT&T hired Cohen, who is being investigated by federal prosecutors for possible bank fraud and campaign finance violations.
The documents say AT&T’s payments to Cohen’s were for his advice on ‘long-term planning initiatives,’ and specifically, the $85 billion merger with Time Warner, which required the approval of federal antitrust regulators.
A new report says AT&T paid President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, $600,000 for advice on its proposed purchase of Time Warner shortly after Trump’s election. Pictured above Cohen arrives at his hotel on Wednesday
AT&T had confirmed it hired Cohen after Trump was elected, but hadn’t publicly explained in detail its motives for the move. President pictured at the White House Wednesday
Cohen was paid large sums of money by several other corporations too. Those payments total at least $2.95million according to Essential Consultants figures that have been confirmed by the company thus far.
The corporate payments Cohen received illustrate how he was able to leverage his connections to the president into lucrative, money-making opportunities.
AT&T had confirmed it hired Cohen after Trump was elected, but hadn’t publicly explained in detail its motives for the move.
The company reached out to Cohen for his ‘expertise’ just three says after the president was sworn in.
As the Post points out, it is unclear what kind of expertise Cohen, a real estate attorney, could have provided AT&T on complex telecom matters.
A not-yet-president Trump had voiced concerns over the merger and the administration ultimately opposed the AT&T effort.
The Justice Department is now seeking to prevent AT&T from buying Time Warner. It filed a suit against the telecom giant in November, and that case is pending.
Cohen was paid $50,000 per month by AT&T through a company called Essential Consultants, which was the same company that paid porn star Stormy Daniels her hush-money.
In fact, it was Daniels’ attorney Michael Avenatti, who first brought to light Cohen’s deals with various corporate clients.
Cohen was paid money to advise corporations on several issues, including the Affordable Care Act, accounting practices, and perhaps more appropriately, real estate.
Both AT&T and the pharmaceutical company Novartis, now say they had disclosed their dealings with Cohen to special council Robert Mueller last year.
A new report says AT&T paid President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, $600,000 for advice on its proposed purchase of Time Warner shortly after Trump’s election. Pictured above Cohen leaves the US Courthouse in New York on April 26, 2018
AT&T had confirmed it hired Cohen after Trump was elected, but hadn’t publicly explained in detail its motives for the move. Pictured above, Trump arrives on Air Force One at South Bend International Airport in South Bend, Ind., Thursday
Cohen’s specific contractual obligations, according to the internal AT&T document, lay out that he was hired to ‘focus on specific long-term planning initiatives as well as the immediate issue of corporate tax reform and the acquisition of Time Warner.’
Additionally he was to ‘creatively address political and communications issues,’ and furthermore advise the company on matters before the Federal Communications Commission.
AT&T said Cohen was hired to provide ‘insights into understanding the new administration.’
In an internal memo, additionally obtained by The Post, AT&T said Cohen was one of ‘several consultants’ the company hired in early 2017 ‘to help us understand how the President and his administration might approach a wide range of policy issues important to the company, including regulatory reform at the FCC, corporate tax reform and antitrust enforcement.’
Novartis chief executive Vasant Narasimhan took a different approach to the unseemly payments, totaling $1.2million, that their company had made to Cohen.
In an email to employees Thursday he said the contract with Cohen was a ‘mistake’ and that it ‘was not a good day for Novartis.’
‘We made a mistake in entering into this engagement and, as a consequence, are being criticized by a world that expects more from us,’ Narasimhan wrote.
Larry Noble, a former general counsel of the Federal Election Commission and an expert on lobbying law explains: ‘It is an ethical concern if you have a lawyer who appears to be selling access to a current client, who is president.’
Cohen is also under investigation by prosecutors in New York for possible bank fraud and campaign finance violations.