Michael Cohen reportedly pursued Moscow Trump Tower deep into campaign, asked Qatar for $1 million
![Michael Cohen](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/6nGsxGUBnwseHtzhCeBPH8-415-80.jpg)
"I'm not going to just roll over," Michael Cohen has told friends as he fumes and despairs over the barrage of unflattering headlines about him and his legal woes, Vanity Fair reports. He also confides: "I just can't take this anymore." Wednesday evening brought a slew of new revelations, including reports that two suspicious bank activity reports on Cohen are mysteriously missing, he worked to get a Trump Tower in Moscow built far later than previously disclosed, the FBI is investigating his payments from a South Korean state-owned aerospace firm, and he solicited what appears to be a $1 million bribe from Qatar.
Cohen told Congress last summer that he had given up on the Moscow Trump Tower project in January 2016. But congressional investigators and Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team have obtained text messages and emails showing that Cohen actively pursued the project as late as May 2016, as then-candidate Donald Trump clinched the Republican nomination, Yahoo News reports.
The texts and emails were provided by Felix Sater, a Russian-born developer and longtime Cohen friend who was partnering on the Trump Tower project. Sater encouraged Cohen to network with Russian officials at a conference in St. Petersburg in mid-June 2016 and wrangled him an invitation, Yahoo says, and Cohen considered going but decided he couldn't travel to Russia until after the Republican convention in July.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
![https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg](https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516-320-80.jpg)
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Separately, The Washington Post and The Intercept report that Cohen solicited at least $1 million from Qatar for access to Trump and help with U.S. government projects on the sidelines of a Dec. 12, 2016, meeting at Trump Tower. Cohen first asked for the payment a few days earlier when he met Qatari investment fund executive Ahmed al-Rumaihi at a hotel, Rumaihi told The Washington Post on Wednesday. "He just threw it out there" as a cost of "doing business," he said, and after he refused, Cohen asked again as the two men waited outside a Trump Tower meeting.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Today's political cartoons - July 25, 2024
Cartoons Thursday's cartoons - a new forecast, an old bumper sticker, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Red Speedo: a 'darkly comic' doping drama
The Week Recommends Lucas Hnath's play stars Finn Cole as a 'reptilian' swimmer determined to win at all costs
By Irenie Forshaw, The Week UK Published
-
One Aldwych: where London's creative spirit takes centre stage
The Week Recommends This five-star Covent Garden hotel is the epitome of elegant independence
By Julia O'Driscoll, The Week UK Published
-
Menendez convicted of bribery, fraud, and extortion
Speed Read The New Jersey Democratic Senator was found guilty in a federal corruption trial
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Florida judge dismisses Trump documents case
Speed Read Judge Aileen Cannon ruled that special counsel Jack Smith was improperly appointed
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
How could J.D. Vance impact the special relationship?
Today's Big Question Trump's hawkish pick for VP said UK is the first 'truly Islamist country' with a nuclear weapon
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Hamas says military chief survived Israeli strike
Speed Read An Israeli bombing failed to hit its intended target, military commander Mohammed Deif, but killed at least 90 Palestinians
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Biden, Trump urge calm after assassination attempt
Speed Reads A 20-year-old gunman grazed Trump's ear and fatally shot a rally attendee on Saturday
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
First Israeli report on Oct. 7 finds 'severe mistakes and errors' in IDF response
Speed Reads Israeli military admits failures in response to deadly Hamas attack that triggered Gaza war
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Biden saw neurologist during physicals
Speed Read Following his bad debate performance, many are asking questions about the president's brain
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Russia bombs Kyiv children's hospital
Speed Reads The daytime barrage interrupted heart surgeries and killed at least 40 people
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published