Michael Cohen: Trump’s Fixer, A Bag Man, An Influence Peddler
CNBC, 23 May 2018, Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was secretly paid $400,000 or more to set up talks between Ukraine leader and Trump: Report
Trump Michael Cohen was reportedly paid at least $400,000 to set up a meeting between Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko and Trump last June, BBC News reports. Ukraine’s anti-corruption agency stopped its probe of former Trump campaign chief Paul Manafort after the sitdown between Trump and Poroshenko. Cohen is under federal criminal investigation for his business dealings, and for a $130,000 hush-money payment paid to porn star Stormy Daniels before the presidential election.
Extract: Attorney Michael Cohen was secretly paid at least $400,000 by Ukrainians to set up talks between President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko last June, the BBC reported Wednesday.
Soon after that meeting, Ukraine‘s anti-corruption agency halted a probe of Paul Manafort, Trump’s ex-campaign chairman, BBC News reported.
Manafort was indicted last fall by American prosecutors on criminal charges related to his work for a pro-Russia party in Ukraine.
The BBC’s account comes on the heels of disclosures two weeks ago that Cohen had received previously unknown payments from drugmaker Novartis, AT&T, defense contractor Korea Aerospace Industries, and a U.S. financial management firm linked to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
In all, Cohen was paid more than $2 million by those companies. The payments have drawn scrutiny from special counsel Robert Mueller, who is prosecuting Manafort.
Intermediaries acting on behalf of Poroshenko reportedly arranged the payment to Trump’s private attorney for setting up the meeting with Trump at the White House.
The BBC said the payment to the New York lawyer was at least $400,000 for making the sit-down happen. One source told the news agency the payment was $600,000.
A high-ranking Ukrainian intelligence officer in Poroshenko’s administration told the BBC that Cohen’s help was enlisted “because Ukrainian’s registered lobbyists” and the country’s embassy in Washington could not arrange more than a “brief photo-op” with Trump.
Cohen did not register as a representative for Ukraine, as legally required, the report said. For more, please see the hyperlink below:
Michael Cohen Met With Qatari Official and Nuclear Plant Owner Last Month–Here’s another action that might be of interest to federal investigators.
Extract: At a meeting in Miami on April 5, Franklin Haney, the owner of an inoperative nuclear power plant in Hollywood, Alabama, sought a major investment for his facility, according to two sources familiar with the gathering. His target, the sources say, was Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, Qatar’s minister of economy and commerce and deputy chairman of the Qatar Investment Authority, the $300 billion sovereign wealth fund of the natural-gas-rich Persian Gulf state.
Also at the meeting, according to the sources, was Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s longtime personal lawyer and fixer. Several days later, Cohen’s office and home would be raided by federal agents.
Last week, Foreign Policy reported that Cohen met with Al Thani in Florida that same week on the sidelines of the Qatar-US Economic Forum, but noted that its sources would not say what they discussed. A Qatari embassy spokesman told Foreign Policy that Cohen requested the meeting with Al Thani but would not say if it took place. “The State of Qatar has never been a client of Mr. Cohen,” the spokesman said.
The two sources familiar with the discussions between Cohen and Al Thani tell Mother Jones that the two men met with Haney to discuss possible Qatari investment in his nuclear power plant.
If a deal were struck, Cohen could have expected to receive a finder’s fee, according to the sources. “Michael doesn’t do anything without getting paid,” said one of the sources, who knows Cohen. It’s unclear whether any agreement was reached.
Cohen’s presence at the meeting would raise questions about his relationship with Qatar, a US ally that has been involved in a bitter diplomatic dispute with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Ahmed Al-Rumaihi, who formerly served as the head of the investments division at the Qatari sovereign fund (known as the QIA) and as a Qatari diplomat, recently stated that in December 2016, Cohen demanded a fee of $1 million in exchange for connecting Al-Rumaihi with potential partners on US infrastructure projects. Al-Rumaihi, who left the QIA in March 2017, said he rejected Cohen’s request
Haney bought the unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Plant from the federal Tennessee Valley Authority for $111 million in 2016. Haney still needs to line up financing to complete work on two nuclear reactors at the plant. He is seeking an extension of an Energy Department loan guarantee, nuclear power tax credits, and various Nuclear Regulatory Commission approvals.
Haney has aggressively courted the Trump administration. He donated $1 million to Trump’s inaugural committee. He contributed at least $125,000 to the Republican National Committee this year. Haney had bragged to associates that he has dined with Trump at least a dozen times.
The Miami meeting came the week before an April 10 Oval Office meeting between Trump and the emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. In 2017, Trump supported a blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and others, and he accused Qatar of funding terrorist groups. During this White House meeting, in a sharp reversal, Trump praised the emir for cracking down on terror funding. For more, please see the hyperlink below:
Foreign Policy & Domestic Politics 