By Rosalind S. Helderman , Rosalind S. Helderman Reporter focusing on political enterprise stories and investigations Email Bio Follow Spencer S. Hsu and Spencer S.
Michael Cohen was President Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer. Here, the two are seen on the campaign trail in 2016. Sent a few months after Trump was elected on a promise to drain the Washington swamp, the emails provide a remarkable window into Cohen’s efforts to leverage and profit from his personal relationship with the president.
At that time, Cohen was being investigated for making false statements to financial institutions and money laundering, but also for potentially acting as an unregistered foreign agent. He was never charged with acting on behalf of foreign governments or with any wrongdoing related to Novartis or Columbus Nova.
The new documents show that both Cohen and AT&T sought to keep the relationship a secret. An AT&T consultant emailed the company’s vice president in February 2017 to assure him that Cohen did not plan to publicize his relationship with the company. “I hope he means it,” the consultant wrote. Columbus Nova has said it paid Cohen a total of $500,000 in 2017 to bring new investors into the company and that Vekselberg was not involved in the decision to hire him.
Investigators were eager to learn more about other foreign money flowing into Essential Consultants, including from Korea and the Republican of Kazakhstan. The money from Kazakhstan, authorities alleged, appeared to be tied to the majority shareholder of a bank who was the son-in-law of Kazakhstan’s ambassador to Russia.
adishsoup Wanna nail a dirty mob boss? Go right for The Fixer.
No collusion no obstruction on my president
realDonaldTrump
DUH! It wasn’t an “investigation”, it was a failed coup attempt against The President of the United States.
Easy, another realDonaldTrump flunky, with Russian connections.
You mean the liar? Who's in jail right now for lying?