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Michael Cohen was ‘promising access’ after Trump election
That lawyer, Michael Avenatti, said the transactions suggest that Cohen was “selling access to the president of the United States.” Cohen and his attorney did not respond to a request for comment, and Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani told NBC News that the president was not involved in Cohen’s business dealing.
According to Avenatti, at least $4.4 million flowed through Essential Consultants, the company Cohen created in October 2016 and then used to pay porn star Stormy Daniels $130,000 in hush money.
Among the transactions that Avenatti said he uncovered:
- Columbus Nova, a U.S.-based firm with ties to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, made about $500,000 in payments between January and August 2017. In a statement, Columbus said it hired Cohen as a consultant “regarding potential sources of capital and potential investments in real estate and other ventures.”
- Novartis made at least four payments of just under $100,000 each in late 2017 and early 2018. In a statement, Novartis said it had an agreement with Essential Consultants, “focused on U.S. healthcare policy matters.”
- AT&T made four payments of $50,000 each to Essential in late 2017 and early 2018. In a statement, AT&T said it engaged the firm in early 2017 to “provide insights into understanding the new administration.”
- Korea Aerospace Industries made a $150,000 payment to Essential in November 2017. KAI said in a statement to Reuters that it had a contract with Essential for “legal consulting concerning accounting standards on production costs.”
Avenatti did not disclose how he got the information or any other evidence that Cohen might be selling access to Trump.
Getting into a cab in Manhattan on Wednesday morning, Cohen told reporters that Avenatti’s report “is inaccurate,” but provided no specifics. NBC News reviewed financial documents that appear to support Avenatti’s accounting of the transactions involving the four companies.
In a statement, Novartis said it received an inquiry from investigators working for special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, about its dealings with Essential Consultants in November 2017.
“In February 2017, shortly after the election of President Trump, Novartis entered into a one-year agreement with Essential Consultants. With the recent change in administration, Novartis believed that Michael Cohen could advise the company as to how the Trump administration might approach certain U.S. healthcare policy matters, including the Affordable Care Act,” the company said in a statement.
“The agreement was for a term of one year, and paid Essential Consultants 100,000 USD per month. In March 2017, Novartis had its first meeting with Michael Cohen under this agreement. Following this initial meeting, Novartis determined that Michael Cohen and Essential Consultants would be unable to provide the services that Novartis had anticipated related to U.S. healthcare policy matters and the decision was taken not to engage further.
“As the contract unfortunately could only be terminated for cause, payments continued to be made until the contract expired by its own terms in February 2018.”
He contacted us after the new administration was in place. He was promising access to the new administration.
He contacted us after the new administration was in place. He was promising access to the new administration.
AT&T sent an email to its employees on Wednesday with details about its dealings with Cohen.
“In early 2017, as President Trump was taking office, we hired several consultants to help us understand how the President and his administration might approach a wide range of policy issues important to the company, including regulatory reform at the FCC, corporate tax reform and antitrust enforcement,” said the email, which was obtained by NBC News.
“Companies often hire consultants for these purposes, especially at the beginning of a new Presidential Administration, and we have done so in previous Administrations, as well.
“Cohen was one of those consultants,” the email continued. ” Cohen did no legal or lobbying work for us, and our contract with Cohen expired at the end of its term in December 2017. It was not until the following month in January 2018 that the media first reported, and AT&T first became aware of, the current controversy surrounding Cohen.”
Columbus Nova, in its Tuesday night statement, took issue with Avenatti’s claim that it was controlled by Vekselberg, one of the richest men in Russia, with a multibillion-dollar oil and aluminum fortune.
Vekselberg is one of the oligarchs recently sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department. Separately, according to the New York Times, citing people familiar with the matter, he was searched and questioned by agents working for Mueller when he got off a plane in the U.S. earlier this year.
An attorney for Columbus Nova, where Vekselberg’s cousin Andrew Intrater is the CEO, said claims Vekselberg “used Columbus Nova as a conduit for payments to Michael Cohen are false. The claim that Viktor Vekselberg was involved or provided any funding for Columbus Nova’s engagement of Michael Cohen is patently untrue.”
No one has been charged with a crime in connection with the Essential Consultants transactions, but Avenatti said the large payments, their timing and the disparity of the companies’ interests are red flags of a pay-to-play scheme by a man often described as Trump’s “fixer.”
“We now have multiple different things supposedly that Michael Cohen was doing for all these companies. Now we hear from Novartis that he was hired on health care matters — evidently he’s a doctor,” Avenatti said facetiously on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“One of the companies mentioned they hired him for real estate matters — he’s a real estate agent? Another company stated that they hired him for accounting advice, evidently he’s an accountant. So he’s a lawyer, a doctor, an accountant, and a real estate agent.
“I’m just a lawyer. I’m not that bright I guess,” Avenatti added.
“Where did the money go?” he asked. “Did all of it go to Michael Cohen? Did some of it go back to the Trump organization? Did some of it ultimately find its way back to the president?”
NBC News asked Cohen and the various companies for comment on Avenatti’s accusation about the purpose of the payments but none had an immediate comment.
In a brief telephone interview, Giuliani said “the president is not involved in any way [with Cohen’s business dealings] either before or after he was president.”
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COVID-19: Lebanon’s health service close to collapse with case numbers beyond ‘wildest predictions’ | World News
The head of Lebanon’s main coronavirus hospital has said the country’s health system is close to collapse – with not enough beds, drugs, oxygen, ventilators or staff.
In a stark interview with Sky News, Dr Firas Abiad said the government decision to relax coronavirus restrictions over a few fateful days at Christmas and New Year has led to a huge increase in cases and deaths over the past few weeks.
He allowed our cameras into the casualty department and the intensive care unit of the Rafic Hariri University Hospital in Beirut to see the pressure he and his staff are under.
Dr Abiad said all hospitals were reporting full, or almost full, intensive care units – and many have patients stuck in emergency wards, waiting for a bed.
Dr Abiad said the government has thrown the healthcare system ‘into an abyss’
“Some patients are not able to find a bed and there’s been several cases where patients have died in their homes,” he said.
“If you look at the sharp rise in cases you see that Lebanon is really seeing unprecedented COVID numbers which is even beyond our wildest predictions.
“The number of daily new cases has almost quadrupled since where we were almost a month ago,” said Dr Abiad.
“At the same time we’ve seen that the number of deaths has also tripled and the number of patients in ICU has gone up by almost 100%.”
On 17 December, four days before a nationwide lockdown was due to end, the government decided to ease a series of restrictions for the holiday period.
Under intense pressure from businesses, they allowed nightclubs, bars and restaurants to open at 50% capacity while urging people to wear masks and maintain social distancing.
But videos on social media over Christmas and New Year showed packed clubs and bars. No attempts were made to crackdown on the violations.
“It’s clear that those were catastrophic [decisions] and what has happened is they’ve thrown the whole healthcare system of the country into a major abyss,” said Dr Abiad.
In the casualty department, the pressures are obvious. There is a shortage of beds, drugs, oxygen, ventilators and staff.
It is a relatively modern hospital but it looks sparse, except for the number of patients.
A nurse strokes a patient’s head.
“I am passing out… I am passing out,” he tells the nurse.
“No, no! You’re doing very well. Don’t be scared. Your oxygen is good. 99%. Honestly it’s very good,” she reassures him.
In the next bed is 53-year-old Aida Derawi. She first began to feel unwell 15 days ago. Her family had hoped she would recover at home, but this week things got worse.
“Yesterday I felt I couldn’t take it anymore,” she says. “My back and lungs were aching. My kids took me around to find a hospital but not a single one would accept me.”
Eventually space was found and she is improving slowly.
Nurse Hussein al Khazn tells us that in this wave of the virus, the patients are no longer predominately elderly.
Red Cross volunteer Waad Abdulaad is very much on Lebanon’s frontline
“Much younger now,” he says. “Before we had 50, 60-year-old patients.
“Now it’s 20, 25, 30-year-old patients and they’re very, very critical – all of them.”
On the other side of the city, we’re given access to the Lebanese Red Cross coordination centre.
In a well-organised control room, a team of volunteers is juggling telephone calls from patients’ families with radio calls to the ambulance teams on the ground.
“So, she’s ill with coronavirus?” a volunteer asks down the line. “So she’s got shortness of breath?”
A radio message is sent to one of the dispatch teams.
“We’re dispatched to a patient that tested positive for COVID and she’s currently suffering from desaturation and vomiting,” volunteer medic Waad Abdulaal says from the passenger seat of the ambulance.
“So we’re going to go ahead, assess her and see if there’s a need to take her to the hospital.”
Lebanon was already in a critical state economically.
Years of accumulative economic mismanagement has led to a slow collapse in every sector of society.
That was then exacerbated by the pandemic and the devastating port explosion last year.
Ambulance crews carry an 80-year-old woman down a flight of stairs in darkness due to another power cut
Up several flights of a stairwell, in darkness because of yet another power cut, the Red Cross team reaches its patient.
Madame Imad is 80 years old. She tested positive last week and her diabetes is complicating her condition. She needs to go to hospital, but there is an issue finding a bed for her.
The positivity rate across the country this past week has been at 21% (the 14-day rolling average).
That means the community spread of the virus is out of control. It needs to be at 5% before there is any chance of regaining a grip of the crisis.
Calls are made and they think space has been found at a hospital nearby.
Madame Imad is carried down the stairs as her daughter Sophie looks straight into our camera and pleads: “Show them that there are people dying before they reach the hospital.”
The elderly woman did make it to the hospital. But she was sent home again. There were no beds. Her family has told us her condition this weekend has worsened.
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Alexei Navalny supporters clash with police and ‘hundreds arrested’ as mass protests expected across Russia | World News
Hundreds of people have reportedly been detained as a series of demonstrations in support of jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny begins across Russia.
The gatherings, which police have declared illegal, are the first by Mr Navalny’s supporters since he was arrested last weekend on his return to Moscow, after spending five months in Germany recovering from novichok poisoning.
Police detain a man in Moscow. Pic: AP
More than 200 people have been detained in central and eastern Russia because of the protests, according to monitoring group OVD-INFO, with more than 100 held in Moscow, according to a Reuters witness, the location for one of up to 70 marches this weekend.
There have been scuffles in the southeastern city of Khabarovsk, and videos also show people being taken away from a protest in Yakutsk, where people have been gathering in -50C temperatures, and one person lying on the ground, apparently injured, in Novosibirsk.
Other footage shows people being hit with batons in Orenburg and riot shields and tears gas being used in some cities.
Police detain a man in Khabarovsk during a protest against the jailing of Alexei Navalny. Pic: AP
Hundreds, possibly thousands, appear to have been taking part in rallies and marches in Yekaterinburg and Irkutsk.
There have also been reports that mobile phone and internet services in Russia have suffered outages as police
crack down on anti-Kremlin protesters.
Authorities sometimes interfere with communication networks to make it harder for protesters to get in touch with each other and the wider world online.
Protesters run away from police officers in Vladivostok,
Six journalists have been held in St Petersburg, according to Avtozaklive.
Mr Navalny, 44, who is one of President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken critics, blames Moscow for the attack that nearly killed him, although the Kremlin denies any involvement.
He is charged with breaking his bail conditions – and is facing a potential three-and-a half-year jail term if found guilty.
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Navalny supporters clash with Russian police
Protesters gathered in support of Mr Navalny in temperatures on -50C in Yakutsk. Pic: Ksenia Korshun/via REUTERS
Anyone who takes part faces charges of rioting, fines, problems at work, prison and even threats over child custody as the Russian state tries to crack down on the demonstrations, which could be the largest against Mr Putin since 2018.
Officials also enforced a crackdown in the run-up to the demonstrations, arresting members of Mr Navalny’s team, including his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh.
They launched an investigation after young Navalny supporters flooded TikTok with anti-Putin videos, pushing for people to support the action this weekend and using the using the hashtags #freenavalny and #23Jan.
The content has been viewed more than 300 million times.
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TikTok videos in support of Navalny
Anger mounted against Mr Putin this week after Mr Navalny’s team released a documentary exposing a vast and opulent palace built by Russia’s leader on the Black Sea coast.
The programme claims the complex – 39 times larger than Monaco – cost £1bn to build and was funded through illicit money.
It is said to have a casino, an underground ice hockey complex and a vineyard.
More than 60 million people have now viewed the Russian-language video on YouTube within three days of it being published.
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Navalny calls for protests over his arrest
On Friday, ahead of the weekend of planned protests, Mr Navalny issued a statement saying he wanted it known that he had no plans to take his own life in prison.
The arrest of Mr Navalny has attracted widespread criticism from Western leaders, sparking new tensions in the already strained relationship with the US.
Despite the plans for the protests, Mr Putin’s grip on power appears solid, with the 68-year-old regularly recording approval ratings of more than 60%, many times higher than those of Mr Navalny.
Protesters attending a rally in support of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Moscow
‘Our kids are being brainwashed’
Eyewitness by Diana Magnay, Moscow correspondent
The rally is not due to start until 2pm, but already here in Moscow, the police are making arrests and there are several hundred people around waiting.
It reminds me very much of the protests in the summer of 2019. There are huge numbers of press following each arrest. I haven’t seen any beatings yet, but the arrests are not pleasant.
Among those attending are Olga and Vladislav Sheglov, father and daughter.
Mr Sheglov told me: “I came here because I cannot live like this anymore, what they’re doing is not acceptable.
“I always tell myself we have the best country, but the worst government.”
His daughter Olga said: “Our kids are being brainwashed. You have families with low income and they have another view of politics.
Olga and Vladislav Sheglov
“When we saw the Putin’s palace investigation, we were so shocked. We used to vote for him, but this was the last straw. We believe 150%, a million percent that Navalny was poisoned.”
Another person at the protest, 16-year-old Yaroslavl, who we are not naming fully because he’s 16, said: “There’ll probably be more detentions than normal because it’s such a big day.
“I’m a bit concerned, but so many people have come together to defend their own opinion and to defend Russia.
“I was told at school not to come, that they might have extra lessons today, but I ignored them. And my parents were even more serious about me not coming, but I ignored them too.”
He said that today everyone went out not for Navalny, but for themselves, to fight for their rights.
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Alexei Navalny supporters clash with police as mass protests expected across Russia | World News
Police have clashed with protesters as series of demonstrations in support of jailed Putin critic Alexei Navalny begins across Russia.
The gatherings, which police have declared illegal, are the first by Mr Navalny’s supporters since he was arrested last weekend on his return to Moscow, after spending five months in Germany recovering from novichok poisoning.
Dozens of people have been detained ahead of the protests, according to a monitoring group, and there have already been scuffles in the southeastern city of Khabarovsk, the location for one of up to 70 marches this weekend.
Videos also show people being taken away from a protest in Yakutsk, where people have been gathering in -50C temperatures.
Alexei Navalny, pictured with his wife Yulia, was poisoned with novichok
Mr Navalny, 44, who is one of President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken critics, blames Moscow for the attack that nearly killed him, although the Kremlin denies any involvement.
He is charged with breaking his bail conditions – and is facing a potential three-and-a half-year jail term if found guilty.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Navalny supporters clash with Russian police
They face charges of rioting, fines, problems at work, prison and even threats over child custody as the Russian state tries to crack down on the demonstrations, which could be the largest against Mr Putin since 2018.
Officials also enforced a crackdown in the run-up to the demonstrations, arresting members of Mr Navalny’s team, including his spokeswoman Kira Yarmysh.
They have launched an investigation after young Navalny supporters flooded TikTok with anti-Putin videos, pushing for people to support the action this weekend and using the using the hashtags #freenavalny and #23Jan.
The content has been viewed more than 300 million times.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
TikTok videos in support of Navalny
Anger mounted against Mr Putin this week after Mr Navalny’s team released a documentary exposing a vast and opulent palace built by Russia’s leader on the Black Sea coast.
The programme claims the complex – 39 times larger than Monaco – cost £1bn to build and was funded through illicit money.
It is said to have a casino, an underground ice hockey complex and a vineyard.
More than 60 million people have now viewed the Russian-language video on YouTube within three days of it being published.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Navalny calls for protests over his arrest
On Friday, ahead of the weekend of planned protests, Mr Navalny issued a statement saying he wanted it known that he had no plans to take his own life in prison.
The arrest of Mr Navalny has attracted widespread criticism from Western leaders, sparking new tensions in the already strained relationship with the US.
Despite the plans for the protests, Mr Putin’s grip on power appears solid, with the 68-year-old regularly recording approval ratings of more than 60%, many times higher than those of Mr Navalny.
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