Stephen Colbert took a swipe at the companies who reportedly paid Donald Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen for access to the president on his Wednesday show.
Trump’s lawyer and right-hand man has come under fire after porn star Stormy Daniels’ attorney posted what he claimed were Essential Consultants LLC’s accounts – the shell corporation Cohen set up to pay Daniels for her silence about her alleged affair with Trump.
They appeared to show that Cohen had been paid $1.2 million by pharmaceutical giant Novartis – reportedly to provide access to Trump.
‘Side effects of taking money from Novartis may include headache, nausea, and extended jail time,’ said The Late Show host in his opening monologue.
Stephen Colbert took a swipe at the companies who reportedly paid Donald Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen for access to the president on his Wednesday show
‘Side effects of taking money from Novartis may include headache, nausea, and extended jail time,’ said The Late Show host in his opening monologue
Telecommunications firm AT&T acknowledged this week that it hired Cohen to gain ‘insights’ into Trump and his administration, paying him at least $200,000 in 2017, according to sources.
‘You paid for insights into this administration?’ an incredulous Colbert asked.
‘He’s a horny old racist who likes cheeseburgers more than his children. $200,000, please!’
The conglomerate is currently seeking government approval for acquisition of Time Warner – CNN’s parent company.
Telecommunications firm AT&T acknowledged this week that it hired Cohen to gain ‘insights’ into Trump and his administration, paying him at least $200,000 in 2017, according to sources
‘He’s a horny old racist who likes cheeseburgers more than his children. $200,000, please!’ Colbert joked, in response to the AT&T payout
Colbert said that Daniels’ lawyer’s claims that that Cohen received payments from AT&T, while their merger was pending before the Trump administration, was ‘a huge accusation.’
‘You obviously can’t say that without backing it up with something—like AT&T admitting that they did it,’ said Colbert.
AT&T confirmed just that to The New York Times earlier this week, saying they had engaged Cohen ‘to provide insights into understanding the new administration.’
Cohen is also accused of taking $500,000 – ‘or as Donald Trump calls it: three-and-a-half porn stars’, Colbert quipped – from a company linked to Viktor Vekselberg, the Russian oligarch with ties to the Kremlin, and $150,000 from Korea Aerospace Industries.
‘Beautiful day here in New York—unless you’re Trump attorney and man who looks like cigarettes smell, Michael Cohen,’ Colbert joked.
President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen (pictured as he arrives at his hotel in New York City, U.S., May 9) has been under fire since his accounts were reportedly made public
Stormy Daniels (left) lawyer Michael Avenatti (right) first revealed the Novartis payments to Cohen. The funds went into an LLC also used to pay adult film star Stormy Daniels as part of a hush agreement
Critics like Michael Avenatti are already saying the payments violate Trump’s pledge to ‘drain the swamp’
A portion of the Navartis payments were first revealed by Daniels’ lawyer Michael Avenatti as among part of what he said were $4 million in funds flowing through Cohen’s LLC bank account in 2017 and 2018.
The firm said the contract was ‘focused on U.S. healthcare policy matters.’
But anonymous members of the company now are claiming the deal was more about access.
‘He reached out to us,’ a Novartis employee told STAT amid the fallout from the revelations.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders got pressed repeatedly about payments by Novartis, AT&T, and other firms to Cohen, and was asked whether Trump knew about the marketing.
‘I’m not aware. I would refer you to the outside counsel,’ she responded.