Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels' lawyer, was wrong: AT&T did not pay Michael Cohen, a personal lawyer for President Trump, $200,000 last year, as Avenatti said on Tuesday; the company paid Cohen $600,000, or $50,000 a month, for, among other things, "specific long-term planning initiatives as well as the immediate issue of corporate tax reform and the acquisition of Time Warner," according to a "scope of work" contract obtained by The Washington Post. AT&T is trying to complete an $85 billion acquisition of Time Warner, and Trump had vowed to block the deal during the campaign; the Justice Department filed suit to thwart the merger in November.
AT&T is one of several corporations that paid Cohen at least $2.95 million through a shell company, Essential Consultants LLC, that he had set up to secretly pay Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about an affair she said she had with Trump in 2006. Like other companies, AT&T said it hired Cohen and other "consultants" last year to give it an insight into the new administration. Along with the $600,000 to Cohen, AT&T donated $2 million to Trump's inaugural committee plus $80,000 in telecommunications equipment.
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