who is donald trump's personal lawyer

by Prof. Eveline Hackett 3 min read

Michael Cohen (lawyer)
Michael Cohen
Cohen in 2019
BornMichael Dean Cohen August 25, 1966 Lawrence, New York, U.S.
EducationAmerican University (BA) Cooley Law School (JD)
Political partyDemocratic (before 2002, 2004–2017, 2018–present) Republican (2002–2004, 2017–2018)
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Who is the former lawyer of Donald Trump?

Dec 28, 2021 · When former president Donald Trump decided to sue three reporters The New York Times and his niece Mary L. Trump over a 2018 story on his tax returns, he didn't turn to a big-name media lawyer. Instead, he is being represented by the Bedminster, New Jersey-based Alina Habba, managing partner of Habba Madiao & Associates (via The Washington Post ). Habba …

Who is Trump's lawyer Alina Habba?

Who is Donald Trump's personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen? The spotlight on President Donald Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen has intensified following the FBI raid of his office and …

Does Donald Trump tell his lawyers everything he knows?

Apr 09, 2018 · Here are a few things you may not have known about Cohen. He was born and grew up in Long Island, New York. He is 51. He has a law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in Michigan. He was a...

Can Donald Trump afford to pay a lawyer?

Apr 09, 2018 · Michael Cohen, center, leaves court in New York, Wednesday, May 30, 2018. A New York judge says lawyers for President Donald Trump's personal lawyer and Trump have until June 15 to make attorney-client privilege claims over data seized in April raids. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

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Why did Cohen join Trump?

Cohen joined the Trump Organization in fall of 2006. Trump hired him in part because he was already an admirer of Trump, having read Trump's Art of the Deal twice. He had purchased several Trump properties and convinced his own parents and in-laws, as well as a business partner, to buy condominiums in Trump World Tower. Cohen aided Trump in his struggle with the condominium board at the Trump World Tower, which led Trump to obtain control of the board. Cohen became a close confidant to Trump, maintaining an office near Trump at Trump Tower.

Where did Michael Cohen practice law?

Cohen began practicing personal injury law in New York in 1992, working for Melvyn Estrin in Manhattan. As of 2003, Cohen was an attorney in private practice and CEO of MLA Cruises, Inc., and of the Atlantic Casino.

What is Essential Consultants LLC?

Essential Consultants LLC is a Delaware shell company created by Cohen in October 2016 to facilitate payment of hush money to Stormy Daniels. For many months thereafter, Cohen used the LLC for an array of business activities largely unknown to the public, with at least $4.4 million moving through the LLC between Trump's election to the presidency and January 2018. In May 2018, Stormy Daniels' lawyer Michael Avenatti posted a seven-page report to Twitter detailing what he said were financial transactions involving Essential Consultants and Cohen. Avenatti did not reveal the source of his information, which was later largely confirmed by The New York Times and other publications. The data showed that hundreds of thousands of dollars were given to Cohen, via Essential Consultants, from Fortune 500 firms such as Novartis and AT&T, which had business before the Trump administration. It was also revealed that Essential Consultants had received at least $500,000 from a New York-based investment firm called Columbus Nova, which is linked to a Russian oligarch. The firm's largest client is a company controlled by Viktor Vekselberg, a Ukrainian-born Russian oligarch. Vekselberg is a business partner of Soviet-born billionaire and major Republican Party donor, Leonard Blavatnik. A spokesperson for Columbus Nova said that the payment was a consulting fee that had nothing to do with Vekselberg.

When did Michael Cohen plead guilty?

Trump employed Cohen until May 2018, a year after the special counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections began. The investigation led Cohen to plead guilty on August 21, 2018, to eight counts including campaign finance violations, tax fraud, and bank fraud.

Who is Michael Cohen?

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 ...

What happened to Michael Cohen?

On November 29, 2018, Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to the Senate Intelligence Committee and House Intelligence Committee in 2017 regarding the proposed Trump Tower Moscow deal that he spearheaded in 2015 and 2016. Cohen had told Congress that the deal ceased in January 2016 when it actually ended in June 2016, and that he had not received a response about the deal from the office of a senior Russian official when he actually had. Cohen said that he had given the false testimony in order to be consistent with Trump's "repeated disavowals of commercial and political ties between himself and Russia" and out of loyalty to Trump. Cohen received a two-month sentence, to be served concurrently with his three-year sentence for tax fraud, for the false testimony.

Who did Michael Cohen volunteer for?

Cohen volunteered for the 1988 presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis. He was also an intern for Congressman Joe Moakley and voted for Barack Obama in 2008, although he later became disappointed with Obama.

Who is John Cooper?

Cooper, a founding member of the Washington law firm Cooper & Kirk who once clerked for late Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist, had been under consideration to be the next solicitor general but withdrew his name after Sessions’ contentious confirmation hearings.

Who is Alan Futerfas?

Futerfas made his name as a defense attorney by successfully representing mobsters in New York City. He later expanded to defending corporate and white collar crimes, and more recently cyber crimes. In 2016, he defended a Russian man who was convicted in the U.S. of creating computer malware. Federal Election Commission records filed last month show Trump's re-election campaign began paying Futerfas' law firm more than a week before the June 2016 meeting became public.

Who is Jay Sekulow?

Jay Sekulow: Sekulow is a lawyer with his own radio show and has largely been the public face for Trump’s legal team. He is the chief counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, a Pat Robertson founded group meant to be the conservative answer to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Who is Andrew Rafferty?

Andrew Rafferty. Andrew Rafferty has been a political reporter for NBCNews.com since 2013. Rafferty writes and reports on politics for the web, and shoots and produces video for all NBC platforms. Prior to joining NBCNews.com, Rafferty was a campaign reporter covering the 2012 presidential election.

Where is John Cobb?

His hiring comes amid reports the president is growing frustrated with Kasowitz, who remains in New York and commutes to Washington. Cobb is a partner at the law firm Hogan Lovells, which is set to face off against the Trump administration in the upcoming Supreme Court case over the president’s travel restrictions.

What was Giuliani's job?

His responsibility as Trump’s top lawyer was to bring Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the US presidential election to an end.

When was Giuliani elected mayor?

Giuliani was elected mayor of New York City in 1993, the first Republican to occupy the city’s mayoral seat since 1965. Propelled into office by capitalising on a conservative backlash against the city’s first African American mayor, Democrat David Dinkins, Giuliani described his city in apocalyptic terms, as a lawless place in need of a firm governing hand.

Who is Daniel Bennett?

Daniel Bennett is an associate professor of political science at John Brown University, where he is also assistant director at the Center for Faith and Flourishing. He is the author of Defending Faith: The Politics of the Christian Conservative Legal Movement. Disqus Recommendations.

Who is Jay Sekulow?

Among them was one of Trump’s personal attorneys, Jay Sekulow. It was a career-defining moment for Sekulow, who forcefully made the case against removing the president from office, saying, ...

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Overview

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 the Eric Trump F…

Early life and education

Cohen was raised in the town of Lawrence on Long Island, New York. His mother was a nurse, and his father, a Holocaust survivor, was a surgeon. Cohen is Ashkenazi Jewish. He attended Woodmere Academy and received his BA from American University in 1988 and his JD from Thomas M. Cooley Law School in 1991.

Career

Cohen began practicing personal injury law in New York in 1992, working for Melvyn Estrin in Manhattan. As of 2003, Cohen was an attorney in private practice and CEO of MLA Cruises, Inc., and of the Atlantic Casino.
In 2006, Cohen was a partner at the law firm Phillips, Nizer, Benjamin, Krim & Ballon. He practiced law at the firm for about a year before joining The Trump …

Federal investigations

As of April 2018, Cohen was under federal criminal investigation by the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY).
On April 9, 2018, the FBI raided Cohen's office at the law firm of Squire Patton Boggs, as well as his home and his hotel room in the Loews Regency Hotel in New York City, pursuant to a federal search warrant. The warrant was obtaine…

State of New York's investigations

The Manhattan District Attorney and the New York Attorney General opened investigations into Trump. The Manhattan DA's office ultimately decided in 2022 not to pursue charges, in part because the new DA, Alvin Bragg, worried that the case relied too much on Michael Cohen's testimony.
These were separate from the investigation by the New York State Department of Taxation and F…

Congressional investigations

On January 10, 2019, Cohen agreed to testify publicly before the House Oversight Committee to give a "full and credible account" of his work on behalf of Trump. On January 12, Fox News contributor and legal analyst Jeanine Pirrotook a 20-minute, on-air phone call from Trump in which he claimed Cohen had fabricated stories to reduce the length of his expected sentence. Trump suggested that investigations should instead focus on Cohen's father-in-law, saying "that's the o…

Memoir, Disloyal

Cohen's memoir on Donald Trump, Disloyal: A Memoir, was released in September 2020. In the foreword, Cohen characterizes Trump as "a cheat, a mobster, a liar, a fraud, a bully, a racist, a predator, a con man."

Personal life

Cohen married Ukrainian-born Laura Shusterman in 1994. Laura Shusterman's father, Fima Shusterman, left Soviet Ukraine for New York in 1975. They have a daughter, Samantha, and a son, Jake. Cohen's father-in-law was the person who introduced him to Trump, according to a Trump biographer.
Cohen has been friends with Felix Sater since childhood. Sater is a convicted felon and real estat…