Why do people keep showering cash on Trump lawyer Michael Cohen? [View all]

[DonViejo]

By Paul Waldman May 9 at 1:33 PM

Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former “personal lawyer,” has had a remarkable career, by which I mostly mean that it’s remarkable that he hasn’t gone to jail yet. But the law is catching up to him, which may also mean that it’s catching up to the president.

Last night we got some new and tantalizing news, which I’m going to try to put in context.

I think the best way to understand it is this: When someone does business with Cohen, they may not be doing it for legitimate reasons. If you need a lawyer or some real estate advice and it’s all aboveboard, this is not the man you seek out. If you do, there will almost inevitably be something fishy going on. It might or might not be illegal, but it will definitely be sketchy in one way or another. And there are some interesting people doing business with Cohen.

Last night, Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels’s lawyer, went public with the results of an investigation he claimed provided details on transactions to and from Essential Consultants, the shell company Cohen set up in Delaware to pay Daniels $130,000 to keep quiet about the affair she says she had with President Trump. You’ll recall that Trump first denied that he knew anything about it, but then his lawyer Rudy Giuliani admitted that he reimbursed Cohen for the payoff.

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/05/09/why-do-people-keep-showering-cash-on-trump-lawyer-michael-cohen