Trump Is Already Freaking Out About the New Cohen Allegations
A report tweeted Tuesday night by Stormy Daniels' lawyer details a number of suspicious payments made to Michael Cohen
After being nudged to the periphery of the news cycle by President Trump's afternoon announcement that he is withdrawing the United States from the Iran deal, the curious case of the Stormy Daniels payment was brought back into focus Tuesday night. Daniels' lawyer, Michael Avenatti, tweeted a link to an executive summary detailing a series of suspicious payments allegedly made to a shell company created by Michael Cohen. The payments came from a number of companies – including one with with ties to a prominent Russian oligarch – and have brought about a host of pay-to-play accusations while possibly shedding light on the source of the alleged reimbursement for the $130,000 payment Cohen made to Daniels prior to the 2016 election.
It’s hard to know whether the tweet was part of the president's typical routine or whether he's a little nervous about the previous night's news regarding his longtime personal attorney. Questions as to the nature of the cashflow between Trump and Cohen have abounded since Rudy Giuliani let slip to Sean Hannity last week that the president repaid Cohen for the Daniels hush money, and the more that comes out, the worse it looks for the president and his legal team.
The report that Avenatti shared details several payments received by Essential Consultants, LLC, the shell company Cohen used to pay off Daniels. Essential Consultants was incorporated only 10 days before the payment to Daniels was made. It’s unclear how Avenatti – who has more than earned his money since taking on the Daniels case – was able to come by this information, but it was later corroborated by the New York Times.
The most notable of the items detailed came from Columbus Nova, the American affiliate of a company owned by Kremlin-connected Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. Columbus Nova has denied Vekselberg had anything to do with the payments, which occurred from January to August 2017 and totaled $500,000, claiming they were in exchange for Cohen's services as "a business consultant regarding potential sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other ventures." Columbus Nova is run by Vekselberg’s cousin, Michael Intrater, who gave $250,000 to Trump's inauguration, which he attended with his Russian kin. Earlier this year, Vekselberg was intercepted by federal investigators after his private jet landed at a New York airport, and, as CNN reported Tuesday, both he and Intrater were questioned by Special Counsel Robert Mueller.
As New York magazine's Jonathan Chait points out, if Vekselberg – and, in turn, Putin – knew about the payment, it would have given Russia leverage over the president.
Avenatti's report details several other suspicious payments that were made to Essential Consultants from companies with questionable motives. Between October 2017 and January 2018, telecom giant AT&T paid the LLC a total of $200,000, a total that, as The Atlantic points out, is commensurate with what the company gives to lobbying firms. AT&T confirmed the payments, saying they were made to Cohen "to provide insights into understanding the new administration," a phrase destined for the Euphemism Hall of Fame. AT&T denies any lobbying took place, although the payments did occur around the time the company and the Trump administration were butting heads over a proposed merger with Time Warner that is currently being mulled by the Justice Department.
The company’s automated customer service on Twitter has had a tough time processing the blowback.
There's more. Novartis, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, paid Essential Consultants just under $400,000 between October 2017 and January 2018. That same month, the Novartis CEO was one of 15 business leaders invited to dine with Trump at the World Economic Forum. In November 2017, Korea Aerospace Industries paid $150,000 to the LLC. The company partnered with Lockheed Martin to bid for a multi-billion-dollar jet manufacturing contract that the government will award this year. Again, none of this looks good.
and then he started using it on the MSM
