AT&T exec out in Michael Cohen payment scandal

[NCTraveler]

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson informed employees on Friday that the company’s Washington policy chief, Bob Quinn, would be retiring, after the company confirmed it paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen’s, Essential Consultants LLC.

“Our company has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons these last few days and our reputation has been damaged. There is no other way to say it – AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake,” Stephenson said in a memo to employees.

While the executive noted that everything was done by the books, he said engaging Cohen’s firm was a “serious misjudgment.” He added that the vetting process at its D.C. branch “clearly failed,” and the group will now report to General Counsel David McAtee.

AT&T paid Essential Consultants LLC $200,000 in four separate installments of $50,000 in late 2017 and early 2018.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/politics/att-exec-out-in-michael-cohen-payment-scandal

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson Says Michael Cohen Hiring Was ‘Big Mistake,’ Top D.C. Exec Will Exit

WASHINGTON — AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said the hiring of Donald Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, was a “big mistake,” and he announced the exit of its top executive in Washington, Bob Quinn.

“Our company has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons these last few days and our reputation has been damaged,” Stephenson wrote in a letter to employees on Friday. “There is no other way to say it — AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake.”

He added, “To be clear, everything we did was done according to the law and entirely legitimate. But the fact is, our past association with Cohen was a serious misjudgment. In this instance, our Washington D.C. team’s vetting process clearly failed, and I take responsibility for that.”

He said for “the foreseeable future,” its external and legislative affairs group, based in Washington, will report to General Counsel David McAtee.

http://variety.com/2018/politics/news/att-michael-cohen-hiring-mistake-1202807087/

Second link added as the first one is to Fox Business.

[gratuitous]

1. Everything done by the books, nothing illegal, please don't investigate this, Mr. Mueller

I hope good old Bob Quinn's severance package, pension, stock options, and the other goodies routinely paid to the Big Boyz doesn't take a hit because of this.

Ah, they'll probably just fire a handful of organ donors in Section G.

[NCTraveler]

2. No one else knew.

It's all over. Just a mistake. Move on. Look how seriously we took it...... after we were caught.

[gratuitous]

3. We take full responsibility

There. That should do it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. Fox just lied.

According to HuffPo:
AT&T paid 600.000.

So far there seem to be 4 companies that gave Cohen a boat load of cash:

AT&T paid Cohen’s limited liability company, Essential Consultants LLC, roughly $600,000, according to documents, but claimed that Cohen did no legal or lobbying work for the telecom firm. The company, which was seeking government approval of a merger with Time Warner Inc., said the payments were for “insights” into the administration.

Columbus Nova, a New York investment firm with close ties to billionaire Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, paid Cohen’s LLC around $500,000 — which was a “consulting fee” that had nothing to do with Vekselberg, Columbus Nova’s lawyer told The New York Times.

Novartis, a pharmaceutical giant, acknowledged paying Essential Consultants LLC $100,000 per month for one year ($1.2 million total) and said that “any agreements with Essential Consultants were entered before our current CEO taking office in February of this year and have expired.” They said the payments were for “healthcare policy matters.”

A seven-page document prepared by Michael Avenatti, an attorney for Stormy Daniels, the adult film actress, said that Cohen’s company also received money from Korea Aerospace Industries.
The company told Bloomberg it paid Cohen one $150,000 payment for advice on what the outlet refers to as local accounting standards. A spokesman maintained that their contract with Cohen was legal.

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/michael-cohen-trump-stormy-daniels-payments_us_5af24625e4b00a3224ee318e

[malaise]

4. Time for the chief Fed Exec

to be out - LOCK HIM UP!