See more
Michael Dean Cohen (born August 25, 1966) is an American disbarred lawyer who served as an attorney for U.S. president Donald Trump from 2006 to 2018. Cohen was a vice-president of the Trump Organization, and the personal counsel to Trump, and was often described by media as Trump's "fixer". He served as co-president of Trump Entertainment and was a board member of …
Who Is Michael Cohen?
Early Life and Law School
Michael Dean Cohen was born on August 25, 1966, in Lawrence, New York, a Nassau County suburb of New York City. Cohen’s surgeon father Maurice escaped Nazi persecution before emigrating to the United States, and Cohen’s mother Sondra was a nurse. Cohen attended American University and received his law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School, one of...
See more on biography.com
Early Legal and Business Career
Cohen began his career as a personal injury lawyer in 1992, eventually opening his own practice. A self-proclaimed entrepreneur from an early age (he claimed to have run a business importing automobiles while in college), he and his family purchased dozens of then-lucrative taxicab “medallions” that allowed them to operate a fleet of taxis in both New York and Chicago. Althoug…
See more on biography.com
Relationship with Trump
His association with Trump began in 2006 when Cohen (who had already purchased several apartments in Trump-owned buildings) assisted Trump in an ongoing battle with a condominium board at a Trump property near the United Nations. An impressed Trump offered Cohen a position within the Trump Organization, and he eventually rose to the role of special counsel and Executi…
See more on biography.com
Role in Trump’s Presidential Campaign and Daniels Affair
Cohen and others repeatedly urged Trump to run for election prior to 2016, and when Trump did enter the 2016 race, Cohen became a key surrogate, appearing on numerous talk shows to defend Trump. Following Trump’s election, he was named the Republican National Committee’s deputy national finance chair, responsible for much of the group’s fundraising. He also left his position …
See more on biography.com
Steele Dossier and Wikileaks
Cohen was named in the Steele dossier, a controversial document compiled by Christopher Steele, a former British intelligence officer, which alleges a conspiracy between the Russian government and Donald Trump’s 2016 campaign. Among its claims are that Cohen traveled to Prague in the summer of 2016 to facilitate a cover-up (including cash payments) of illicit operati…
See more on biography.com
Daniels Case and Essential Consultants LLC
In early 2018, it was revealed that Cohen paid Stephanie Clifford, also known by her adult film name Stormy Daniels, $130,000 in the fall of 2016. The payment was made with regards to Daniels’ claim of a 2006 affair with Trump. Cohen initially claimed to have made the payment out of his own funds, and that Trump was not involved in the matter. It later emerged that Trump ha…
See more on biography.com
FBI Raid and Criminal Investigation
On April 9, 2018, Cohen’s office, home and hotel room were raided by the FBI, as part of an investigation being conducted by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York. The case was referred to the U.S. Attorney by the office of special counsel Robert Mueller, and investigators seized emails, phone records, tax and bank statements and other materials relatin…
See more on biography.com
Turning on Trump
In July, Cohen sat down with ABC's George Stephanopoulos for his first in-depth interview since the FBI seized his files in April. While declining to discuss specific issues related to the investigation, Cohen said he believed that Mueller would find no evidence of improper dealings with Russian agents on his part. He also delivered some eye-opening comments about his form…
See more on biography.com
Plea Deal and Sentencing
After accepting a deal with prosecutors, Cohen appeared in a Manhattan federal court on August 21, 2018, to plead guilty to charges of tax evasion, bank fraud and illegal campaign contributions. He told the judge that the illegal contributions—payments to Clifford and McDougal to keep quiet about their alleged affairs with Trump—were "in coordination with and at the direction of a candi…
See more on biography.com