Cohen’s advice was simple:
“AT&T paid Trump fixer Michael Cohen $600,000 for advice…”
And Novartis paid him for medical advice.
And KAI paid him for aerospace advice.
And the Kremlin paid him for geopolitical advice.
But I tell a lie: actually, they all paid Trump; Cohen was merely the pass-through.
And Cohen’s failures to register as a lobbyist, to register as a foreign agent, and to disclose payments?
Those are all federal crimes.
And his failure to declare taxable income?
Well, I think we all know exactly where this is headed for Cohen.
And Trump.
And Pence, and McConnell, and Ryan, and…
Shake downs like the mob.
And, please correct me if I’m wrong, but crimes of public corruption occurring while in office would be impeachable offenses.
Bummer.
Cohen … was hired to … “creatively address political and communications issues.”
Well, we know that everyone in Trump world thinks anything that turns a profit is creative, creative of wealth. Didn’t know AT&T shared their POV with respect to pay to play, though it’s not surprising.
It’s equally unsurprising that when Donnie railed against the US Foreign Corrupt Practices act, he was really thinking about the advantages he’d gain from changing those kinda laws here. He’s always worn his heart on his sleeve.
Look, it’s really very simple. Let’s say you’re in a lawsuit and you want the judge to decide in your favor. Who better to advise you on how to proceed than that very judge? So you pay him for his time to advise you, and it’s well worth it. It’s common sense. See? This sort of advice-getting is very commonly done by celebrities and people of wealth.
This is such patent bullshit. It’s a wonder that AT&T’s obviously-previously-absent lawyers would even let it go out the door, let alone its PR and investor relations people.
Looks like they gave a whole new meaning to “reach out and touch someone.”
Perfect! And here’s more advise from Mr. Cohen:
“I can’t hear you. How much did you say? Still can’t hear you.”
“You must have made a mistake (pushing the check back across the table).”
“I only see 6 zeros after the 9.”
:
My guess is that it was hidden in PR for corporate-politics reasons, and because someone higher up thought that it would attract less attention there than, say, in R&D or governmental relations.
The reasons given are transparent, but probably just enough for the brass who gave the orders to claim that they were misled by their underlings. Until a real prosecutor starts in.
Now you just being a tease.
Holy Moly - wasn’t that the AT&T slogan/criticism a few years back - Reach Out and Crush Someone.
What’s weird to me is that Cohen had plainly fallen out of favor, at least publicly. I don’t think I’d have trusted him to buy my way to the dotard’s ear, even if I were interested in doing that sort of business.
Unfortunately Cohen’s criminality is far from clear. I’m far from an expert in this field, but there would appear to be lots of loopholes in the registration requirements, the chief one being that a person has to spend 20% of his/her time on lobbying before the requirement arises. How 20% is measured I have no clue. The tax thing is interesting, although I have a feeling Cohen is one of those guys who files 2/3 years late, for obvious reasons. Bottom line, we have a system in this country that is basically OK with this.
On the bright side, I reckon that Trump is so pathologically avaricious and stupid that some of Cohen’s payoffs ended up with him. Obviously that’s beyond the pale.
LOL. The corporate non-talk language they are using is fucking absurd haha. These word salads mean absolutely nothing whatsoever and can therefore be claimed to mean anything whatsoever. And saying shit like “political and communications issues” which any cross-examiner worth his salt would turn into “we paid for direct access to Trump so we could curry a favorable regulatory decision out of him” tells me they’re either differently abled or are banking on Trump’s control over DOJ/FBI and the pardon power…probably both.
Oh, no, this one is righteous. Cohen is an expert in M&A - medallions and assholery.
I suppose we’re gonna have to wait for SDNY’s filings to find out who was depositing in Cohen’s other shell companies.
The man’s a polymath, but I’m sure he made some effort to divide the receipts from his diverse talents among appropriate corporate entities.
WaPo: AT&T Paid Cohen For Advice On $85 Billion Time Warner Merger
Well, the cost of the merger was really only $83 billion, i.e., after you subtract the “fees” paid to Cohen and Chiselin’ Trump for their, ahem, advice.
He sounds like a sort of idealized version of the complete renaissance man: