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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsBreaking BBC : Trump lawyer Michael Cohen "paid by Ukraine" to arrange White House talks in June 17
BBC Exclusive: Trump lawyer Michael Cohen paid by Ukraine to arrange White House talks in June 2017
Link to tweet
Cohen received at least $400,000 to fix talks between Ukraines Poroshenko and President Trump intelligence sources
After the alleged payment to Cohen for White House talks, Ukraines Anti Corruption Bureau drops Paul Manafort investigation
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-44215656
Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, received a secret payment of at least $400,000 (£300,000) to fix talks between the Ukrainian president and President Trump, according to sources in Kiev close to those involved.
The payment was arranged by intermediaries acting for Ukraine's leader, Petro Poroshenko, the sources said, though Mr Cohen was not registered as a representative of Ukraine as required by US law.
The meeting at the White House was last June.
Shortly after the Ukrainian president returned home, his country's anti-corruption agency stopped its investigation into Trump's former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.
A high-ranking Ukrainian intelligence officer in Mr Poroshenko's administration described what happened before the visit to the White House.
Mr Cohen was brought in, he said, because Ukraine's registered lobbyists and embassy in Washington DC could get Mr Poroshenko little more than a brief photo-op with Mr Trump. Mr Poroshenko needed something that could be portrayed as "talks".
This senior official's account is as follows - Mr Poroshenko decided to establish a back channel to Mr Trump. The task was given to a former aide, who asked a loyal Ukrainian MP for help.
He in turn used personal contacts in a Jewish charity in New York state, Chabad of Port Washington. This eventually led to Michael Cohen, the president's lawyer and trusted fixer. Mr Cohen was paid $400,000.
There is no suggestion that Mr Trump knew about the payment.
A second source in Kiev gave the same details, except that the total paid to Mr Cohen was $600,000.
There was also support for the account from a lawyer in the US who has uncovered details of Mr Cohen's finances, Michael Avenatti. He represents a porn actress, Stormy Daniels, in legal action against President Trump.
Avenatti said that Suspicious Activity Reports filed by Mr Cohen's bank to the US Treasury showed he had received money from "Ukrainian interests".
We spoke to Mr Cohen and to the two Ukrainians said to have opened the backchannel for their president - all three denied the story.
The senior intelligence official in Kiev also said Mr Cohen had been helped by Felix Sater, a convicted former mobster who was once Trump's business partner. Mr Sater's lawyer, too, denied the allegations. The Ukrainian president's office refused to comment.
As was widely reported last June, Mr Poroshenko was still guessing at how much time he would have with Mr Trump even as he flew to Washington.
The White House schedule said only that Mr Poroshenko would "drop in" to the Oval Office while Mr Trump was having staff meetings.
That had been agreed through official channels. Mr Cohen's fee was for getting Mr Poroshenko more than just an embarrassingly brief few minutes of small talk and a handshake, the senior official said. But negotiations continued until the early hours of the day of the visit.
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Cohen is basically a fixer.
Kirk Lover
(3,608 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)This is BIG.
maddiemom
(5,106 posts)If not, does that prove that the Orange One really was innocent of any knowledge of it all?
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)That's why his frenzy has escalated ever since the Cohen searches.
Sneederbunk
(14,291 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Orsino
(37,428 posts)global1
(25,248 posts)sunonmars
(8,656 posts)flibbitygiblets
(7,220 posts)Pretty slim to none. Cohen didn't do this on his own.
WhiteTara
(29,715 posts)I'm betting Trump got the other $200,000
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Hadn't heard that Ukraine has chimed in. Is Putin now closing a noose around Pres. Turd too?
WhiteTara
(29,715 posts)also funny in a graveyard whistle kind of way.
Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)it's zillions.
Mueller - turn over all the chump's banking records to DU to unravel. That would be the most fun week or weeks ever !!
OnDoutside
(19,956 posts)Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)Ukraine military assistance off the GOP platform. So sure Ukraine knew in 2017 that trump was for sale
OnDoutside
(19,956 posts)Laura PourMeADrink
(42,770 posts)the WH. I do think this one action - sending someone to the platform committee meeting - two thugs - who when asked, openly admitted while making a call - that they were calling/with Trump - has GOT to be a critical moment in all this slime. To me, anyway, Mueller has not called me
dalton99a
(81,488 posts)Leghorn21
(13,524 posts)Haahahaaahhhaaa!!!
Whasssup, COHEN??
sunonmars
(8,656 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)LittleGirl
(8,287 posts)had to invade his office in the wee hours of the morning. This is juicy!
triron
(22,003 posts)demmiblue
(36,853 posts)CanonRay
(14,101 posts)Government for sale or rent
Laws are just 50 mil
No rules, no regs, no sweat
Send the money to St. Kitt
Duppers
(28,120 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)yonder
(9,666 posts)Pay to Play: 400k, 600, a million? Does it matter, it's still Pay to Play. Yeah, I'd be curious too as to how much made it to the king-in-chief.
What happens to people that they lose sight of common sense? Does it start out small, then easier, never getting called on it till they can't distinguish between right and wrong? Nah, they know or they wouldn't be skulking around, going through layers of channels, making secret payments like they do. It just becomes easier because they haven't suffered any consequences. Yet. We've got to be getting to close to some sort of final nail in that long, pine box.
effin greedy psychopaths
Eliot Rosewater
(31,112 posts)to obey the law and has half the country OK with it?
yonder
(9,666 posts)Quid pro quo, pay to play, if our pResident (DBA The Trump Org.) can make a buck, then to him it's legal. It's doubtful he will respond to the rule of law any differently than he already has.
40 effin percent with red hats, their leaders with nose rings. The tan dude has both of them and his bully stick pulpit to herd them where he chooses. I don't know how you get around that. Since we can't count on our own media to glom on to this as they should, maybe the BBC and others can pick up our tattered free press colors and show our own how it's done.
The Red Menace is here, just looking a bit different than we thought it would. Something has got this country by the balls and that grip has to be loosened.
William Seger
(10,778 posts)If he's not pissed, we can assume he has.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)You know, that same shit Glenn Fucking Greenwald, Taibbi, Scahill, Snowden, etc repeatedly accused Hillary Clinton of doing, on much flimsier evidence than this...
And I guran-fucking-tee y'all that you won't read the first acknowledgement of this on any of their TL today...
Eliot Rosewater
(31,112 posts)And the people who want her in prison will look at this and say what?
nothing
We are a badly broken country
R B Garr
(16,954 posts)Fabricated accusations without even a hint of effort to prove the allegations just malign her because she knows people.
Blue_Tires
(55,445 posts)malaise
(268,999 posts)fixer
Chickensoup
(650 posts)My ass. You are the swamp .
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Eliot Rosewater
(31,112 posts)America, if you dont ALL instantly denounce and demand his arrest, you suck