who is trump's lawyer

by Alessia Stokes 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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Oct 03, 2019 · He maintains he has done nothing wrong. Rudolph “Rudy” Giuliani, Trump’s personal lawyer, remains one of the president’s most recognisable and steadfast allies, and as the impeachment inquiry into...

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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 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 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 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.

Who is the special counsel for Trump?

Pam Bondi. Pam Bondi, a special advisor to Trump, speaks as part of his defense team during the Senate impeachment trial, January 29, 2020. (Source: C-SPAN) Another registered lobbyist who defended the president is Pam Bondi, a former Florida attorney general.

What did Dershowitz say about Trump?

Dershowitz controversially said in Trump’s defense on the Senate floor in January that “if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”.

Who is Rudy Giuliani?

Exhibit A is the president’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani, who, rather than participating in Trump’s defense during the impeachment trial, was himself a major topic of debate on the Senate floor. Giuliani’s name appears hundreds of times in the House Judiciary Committee’s report accompanying the articles of impeachment.

Who is Alan Dershowitz?

(Source: C-SPAN) Alan Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor known for representing celebrity criminal defendants, also has other business before the Trump administration.

Who is Sheldon Adelson?

In early 2019, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel reversed its previous position on the law to correspond with an expansive interpretation favored by Sheldon Adelson, a casino operator who is one of Trump’s biggest donors and an opponent of online gambling, which competes with his business.

Who is Jay Sekulow?

Jay Sekulow. Jay Sekulow, a personal attorney to Trump, speaks during the Senate impeachment trial, January 29, 2020. (Source: C-SPAN) Until its recent indictment by the Justice Department for money laundering and violating sanctions against Iran, state-owned Turkish bank Halkbank was another of Ballard’s clients.

Who is Marc Owens?

Marc Owens, a former top IRS official , told the Associated Press this month that the IRS should investigate. “This is an apparent web of organizations that seem to exist to pay compensation to Sekulow and his family members,” said Owens.

Who was the president's former adviser?

(CNN) The orbit of former advisers and associates of President Donald Trump who have been indicted or found guilty grew Thursday when Steve Bannon, his former senior adviser and chief strategist, was arrested and indicted.

Why did Flynn lie to the FBI?

Trump's onetime national security adviser, Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his talks with the then-Russian ambassador about approaches that would undermine Obama administration policy before Trump took office.

What was Roger Stone's sentence?

Trump commuted his sentence this summer days, before Stone was set to report to a federal prison in Georgia.

Did Trump pardon Flynn?

The case has become a political lightning rod, with Trump and Flynn both saying he's been treated unfairly by the judge and the prosecutors who cut his plea deal. Trump has not ruled out a pardon for Flynn.

Who is Jay Sekulow?

Sekulow, 64, is chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative legal group.

Who is Marc Scaringi?

Marc Scaringi, a lawyer in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is leading the Trump campaign’s legal effort in that state. Scaringi, 51, focuses his practice on business and corporate law and has about 20 years of experience.

Who is Pam Bondi?

Pam Bondi is a former two-term Florida attorney general, elected in 2010 and again in 2014. Bondi, 55, already familiar to viewers of Fox News Channel, became a familiar figure early in 2020 as one of Trump’s lawyers during his Senate impeachment trial. She made strong arguments for the president on the Senate floor, ...

What did Sidney Powell say about voting machines?

Sidney Powell made news recently by calling out potential problems with voting machines made by Dominion Voting Systems and suggesting that enough evidence will emerge to overturn election results in several states.

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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

On August 22, 2018, it was announced that the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance had subpoenaed Cohen in connection with its investigation into whether the Donald J. Trump Foundation had violated New York tax laws. This investigation is separate from the New York Attorney General's lawsuit alleging that the foundation and its directors violated state and federal laws about the operation of charities.

On August 22, 2018, it was announced that the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance had subpoenaed Cohen in connection with its investigation into whether the Donald J. Trump Foundation had violated New York tax laws. This investigation is separate from the New York Attorney General's lawsuit alleging that the foundation and its directors violated state and federal laws about the operation of charities.

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…