Last week’s NBC scoop on Michael Cohen didn’t pan out very well … will this one actually stick?
After significant investigation, we have discovered that Mr. Trump’s atty Mr. Cohen received approximately $500,000 in the mos. after the election from a company controlled by a Russian Oligarc with close ties to Mr. Putin. These monies may have reimbursed the $130k payment.
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 8, 2018
Avenatti has told at least two people something big was coming this week, guessing this was it. Here is the executive summary he posted that he says backs up his claim below along with other claims about the money Cohen was routing through his account: https://t.co/v7FZaLh6nc https://t.co/O5mG85knGF
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) May 8, 2018
Other entities that Cohen received money from, according to Avenatti, include: pharmaceutical company Novartis; Korea Aerospace Industries, AT&T.
— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) May 8, 2018
Speaking of AT&T:
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/993983646578114560
CNBC reports:
Telecommunications giant AT&T said Tuesday night that it had paid President Donald Trump‘s lawyer Michael Cohen for “insights” about the Trump administration.
AT&T’s admission came after a lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels claimed the company, drug giant Novartis and a Russian oligarch had all made payments to Cohen’s firm.
Daniels’ lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said AT&T had made four separate payments to Cohen’s company totaling $200,000 in late 2017 and into early 2018.
This time, AT&T has confirmed the claims:
BREAKING: @ATT confirms payments to Cohen LLC >>
Full Stmt: “Essential Consulting was one of several firms we engaged in early 2017 to provide insights into understanding the new administration. They did no legal or lobbying work for us, and the contract ended in December 2017”
— Christina Wilkie (@christinawilkie) May 8, 2018
Hmmm.
https://twitter.com/lachlan/status/993984087051337736
We might be looking at an honest-to-goodness mess here.
Yeah, uh… this ain't good https://t.co/pcZcBh32Wq
— UnwillingtoWorkBlackMan ???? (@NevilleD35) May 8, 2018
This looks like straight forward corruption. https://t.co/RflmynF8qS
— Pradheep J. Shanker, M.D., M.S. (@Neoavatara) May 8, 2018
But is it?
6. News from @ATT – which confirms another item in Avenatti’s dossier. To be clear, nothing illegal about taking money from ATT https://t.co/kRscOH2DDu
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) May 8, 2018
This is what Avenatti is alleging: Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, received money from various entities after the election, including from a company controlled by Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg.
— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) May 8, 2018
2. These are very significant claims that Avenatti is making. Curious from lawyer Twitter, if this turns out not to be accurate, would Cohen have a serious defamation claim? Something I know is very hard to prove normally. https://t.co/v7FZaLh6nc pic.twitter.com/WoMVcLQGGX
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) May 8, 2018
Michael Cohen’s attorney, Steve Ryan, won’t discuss the $500,000 Michael Avenatti says Cohen received from Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg in 2017. “I understand the shorthand you’re using, but it wasn’t a payment,” Ryan says before hanging up.
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) May 8, 2018
.@MichaelAvenatti wouldn't go into details about how he knows about the $500k Cohen received from Vekselberg's company, but said "it is not an accurate statement" to say that these weren't payments. https://t.co/uz6LcRIBmJ
— Natasha Bertrand (@NatashaBertrand) May 8, 2018
Last week, Michael Avenatti not only “confirmed” that Michael Cohen had been wiretapped, but also that some of his text messages had been intercepted. The first claim proved to be false (at least as far as we know), and Avenatti never backed up the second. So at the very least, it’s probably worth taking his allegations today with a grain of salt.
Still, it’s not looking too good for Cohen right now.
4. NEWS: Mueller's investigators have questioned a Russian oligarch about hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments his company's US affiliate made to President Donald Trump's personal attorney, Michael Cohen, after the election. https://t.co/IrWMaQNQTt
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) May 8, 2018
5. . @NoahShachtman has confirmed that Michael Cohen took hundreds of thousands of dollars from an oligarch close to Putin who is now on the US sanctions list. https://t.co/bfumtWkc92
— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) May 8, 2018
NYT confirms Avenatti assertion: Firm Tied to Russian Oligarch Made Payments to Michael Cohen https://t.co/oN53B2VJ2m
— Alex Wagner (@alexwagner) May 8, 2018
The lawyer for Stormy Daniels is making some rather explosive suggestions about how money from a Russian oligarch may have flowed to Michael Cohen.
Right now, I'm interested in knowing a lot more about the evidence for all of this.
— Chris Megerian (@ChrisMegerian) May 8, 2018
You, and a lot of other people. But one way or another, the truth will come out.