Tag: Trump fixer

After two convictions, pressure mounts on Trump

The following article by Dan Balz was posted on the Washington Post website August 21, 2018:

In one hour on Aug. 21, the presidency of Donald Trump was dramatically altered with the conviction of Paul Manafort and the guilty plea of Michael Cohen. (JM Rieger/The Washington Post)

No day during President Trump’s 19 months in office could prove as dangerous or debilitating as Tuesday. Everything that happened in a pair of courtrooms hundreds of miles apart strengthened the hand of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and weakened that of the president of the United States.

This was a day when truth overran tweets, when facts overwhelmed bald assertions. Presidential tweets, however provocative, eventually disappear into the ether. Tuesday’s convictions could send two people who have had close relationships with Trump to prison for several years, while one of them brought the investigation to the doorstep of the White House. Continue reading “After two convictions, pressure mounts on Trump”

What Michael Cohen’s Guilty Plea Means for Donald Trump

The following article by John T. Bennett was posted on the Roll Call website August 21, 2018:

Here are 3 takeaways from the former fixer’s admission he broke the law

President Donald Trump enters the Capitol for a meeting with House Republicans in June. His former attorney, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to a list of charges on Tuesday. Credit: Bill Clark, CQ Roll Call file photo

ANALYSIS — By striking a plea deal, Michael Cohen essentially signed a disloyalty pledge to his former boss: Donald Trump. And it should give the president ample reasons to sweat.

Cohen pleaded guilty Tuesday in a surprise hearing in New York to multiple campaign finance, bank fraud and tax fraud charges. The hearing culminated several weeks of the former “fixer” and his team publicly criticizing Trump — and the president firing back.

Trump reportedly has grown agitated in recent weeks that Cohen could attempt to ward off a stiffer penalty by providing federal investigators damaging information about his business and political dealings.

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‘There’s a Lot More to Come’: Michael Cohen Ally Reportedly Says He Has a ‘Treasure Trove’ of Dirt on the President

The following article by Cody Fenwick was posted on the AlterNet website July 27, 2018:

The president’s former lawyer is reportedly furious about the latest leak about his knowledge.

Credit: Mark Wilson, Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s former lawyer Michael Cohen was furious when reports broke Thursday night that he is willing to tell special counsel Robert Mueller that Trump knew about a secret meeting with a Kremlin-linked Russian lawyer during the 2016 campaign, according to a new report from Vanity Fair.

Reporter Emily Jane Fox says that contrary to some speculation, sources close to Cohen say that his team did not leak the story. Cohen has been hoping to use that information as a part of a deal from federal prosecutors who are investigating him. No charges have yet been brought against Cohen.

Fox reports that the claim about the meeting was one of the “most valuable potential pieces of information” Cohen possessed.

View the complete article here.

Michael Cohen privately questions Trump’s fitness to be president

The following article by Jonathan Swan was posted on the Axios.com website July 21, 2018:

Michael Cohen arrives with his lawyers at the United States District Court Southern District of New York. Credit: Spencer Platt, Getty Images

Friends of Michael Cohen have noticed that since Trump’s Helsinki press conference with Vladimir Putin he’s been more openly questioning Trump’s fitness to be president. “It’s one thing for him [Cohen] to be concerned about his suitability to be president,” a knowledgeable source told me. “It’s quite another thing to be concerned about his [Trump’s] loyalty to his country.”

The source added that Cohen was sending a public signal to this effect when he tweeted, on Monday after Trump’s Helsinki press conference: “As I said to @ABC @GStephanopoulos, “I respect our nation’s intelligence agencies who determined that Russia, had in fact, interfered or meddled in our democratic process. I repudiate Russia’s effort…and call on all Americans to do the same.”

Why this matters: The Trump-Cohen relationship broke down a while ago, but now the investigation of Cohen is heating up — with the NYT revealing that Cohen secretly taped Trump — the two have dispensed with the public pretense of loyalty.

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Michael Cohen abruptly drops lawsuit claiming Steele dossier is a lie

The following article by Aaron Rupar was posted on the ThinkProgress website April 19, 2018:

The move comes days after Trump’s longtime attorney was the target of an FBI raid.

Michael Cohen exits the US Dist Court Southern District of New York, April 16, 2018 in New York City. Credit: Drew Angerer, Getty Images

Trump’s longtime personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has abruptly dropped a defamation lawsuit he filed against BuzzFeed for publishing an unverified intelligence dossier put together by former British spy Christopher Steele that details the Trump campaign’s alleged links with the Putin regime.

The timing of Cohen’s move to drop the lawsuit is interesting, for at least a couple reasons. First, it comes the week after FBI agents acting on a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller raided Cohen’s home, office, and hotel room. Cohen’s decision to drop the lawsuit suggests agents may have seized evidence that will make it hard to him to maintain that the dossier is “fake” and a “lie filled document,” as he claimed on Twitter when he announced the “defamation action” in January.

Continue reading “Michael Cohen abruptly drops lawsuit claiming Steele dossier is a lie”

Tools of Trump’s Fixer: Payouts, Intimidation and the Tabloids

The following article by Jim Rutenberg, Megan Twohey, Rebecca R. Ruiz, Mike McIntire and Maggie Haberman was posted on the New York Times website February 18, 2018:

Michael D. Cohen, President Trump’s longtime lawyer, suppressed embarrassing stories about his boss’s past as they loomed over the campaign. Credit Andrew Harnik/AP

As accounts of past sexual indiscretions threatened to surface during Donald J. Trump’s presidential campaign, the job of stifling potentially damaging stories fell to his longtime lawyer and all-around fixer, Michael D. Cohen.

To protect his boss at critical junctures in his improbable political rise, the lawyer relied on intimidation tactics, hush money and the nation’s leading tabloid news business, American Media Inc., whose top executives include close Trump allies.

Mr. Cohen’s role has come under scrutiny amid recent revelations that he facilitated a payment to silence a porn star, but his aggressive behind-the-scenes efforts stretch back years, according to interviews, emails and other records. Continue reading “Tools of Trump’s Fixer: Payouts, Intimidation and the Tabloids”