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Why AT&T's $200,000 payment to Michael Cohen is a bombshell
Why AT&’s $200,000 payment to Michael Cohen is a bombshell
$200,000 to a fake company.
Judd Legum
May 8, 2018, 9:30 pm
snip//
But AT&T’s payment is a stunning development that is likely to create a thicket of legal problems for Cohen and Trump himself.
Essential Consultants is not a real company
AT&T tries to justify the payments as a legitimate consulting expense, saying that the firm provided “insights.” But Essential Consultants is not a real company. It was set up on October 17, 2016. According to financial records, the company exists as a “real estate consulting company that collects fees for investment consulting work.”
But Cohen immediately used it to make the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. The funding for that payment, Cohen had claimed, came from a mortgage on his house.
The shell company has no website, no known employees, and no public facing presence of any kind. It raises the question of how AT&T could have even possibly known about Essential Consultants.
AT&T tries to justify the payments as a legitimate consulting expense, saying that the firm provided “insights.” But Essential Consultants is not a real company. It was set up on October 17, 2016. According to financial records, the company exists as a “real estate consulting company that collects fees for investment consulting work.”
But Cohen immediately used it to make the hush money payment to Stormy Daniels. The funding for that payment, Cohen had claimed, came from a mortgage on his house.
The shell company has no website, no known employees, and no public facing presence of any kind. It raises the question of how AT&T could have even possibly known about Essential Consultants.
Essential Consultants was used for the benefit of Donald Trump
We know that the impetus for the creation of Essential Consultants was the Stormy Daniels payment. That means a publicly traded company paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a shell corporation that is known to make expenditures on behalf of Donald Trump. Rudy Giuliani, who is now one of Trump’s attorneys, allowed for the possibility that Cohen paid off other women on Trump’s behalf.
We know that the impetus for the creation of Essential Consultants was the Stormy Daniels payment. That means a publicly traded company paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to a shell corporation that is known to make expenditures on behalf of Donald Trump. Rudy Giuliani, who is now one of Trump’s attorneys, allowed for the possibility that Cohen paid off other women on Trump’s behalf.
AT&T made the payment while it was seeking approval for a merger
The $200,000 payment to Cohen was made while AT&T was seeking approval from Trump’s Justice Department to merge with Time-Warner. AT&T claims that Cohen did no lobbying or legal work for the company. But it provides little information about what services Cohen did provide for his large fee. It leaves the impression of a clandestine effort to influence the thinking of administration on the merger, which the Trump administration ended up opposing.
AT&T also had an interest in repealing net neutrality regulations, which the Trump administration did around the time their contract with Essential Consulting concluded.
The $200,000 payment to Cohen was made while AT&T was seeking approval from Trump’s Justice Department to merge with Time-Warner. AT&T claims that Cohen did no lobbying or legal work for the company. But it provides little information about what services Cohen did provide for his large fee. It leaves the impression of a clandestine effort to influence the thinking of administration on the merger, which the Trump administration ended up opposing.
AT&T also had an interest in repealing net neutrality regulations, which the Trump administration did around the time their contract with Essential Consulting concluded.
more...
https://thinkprogress.org/why-atts-payment-to-michael-cohen-is-a-bombshell-edaa3a6acf4e/
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