On May 8, Michael Avenatti, Stormy Daniels’ lawyer, dropped a link to documents that showed that Michael Cohen, Trump’s lawyer who arranged hush money payments to Daniels, had been funneling money from a Russian oligarch and various companies through his LLC. Avenatti claims this is how Cohen was paid back for paying off Daniels.
Avenatti’s documents appear to be SARs from a bank, and seem to outline a pay-to-play scandal between the Trump administration and various companies, as well.
Resources from May 8
- Avenatti’s “Executive Summary,” ie, the initial docs he dropped on Twitter.
- Daily Beast: Michael Cohen Took Cash From Oligarch-Connected Firm After Election
- CNN: Exclusive: Mueller’s team questions Russian oligarch about payments to Cohen
- Dallas News: How Putin’s oligarchs funneled millions into GOP campaigns (12/15/17, updated 5/8/18)
- New York Times: Viktor Vekselberg, Russian Billionaire, Was Questioned by Mueller’s Investigators
- The Atlantic: Trump’s Two Biggest Scandals Converge in a Single Tweet
- Mother Jones: Stormy Daniels’ Lawyer Claims Russian Oligarch Paid $500,000 to Michael Cohen
- New York Times: Firm Tied to Russian Oligarch Made Payments to Michael Cohen
Resources from May 9
- Politico: Mueller team questioned Novartis last year over Michael Cohen payments
- Business Insider: Stormy Daniels’s lawyer warns that more ‘bombshells’ are coming
- Vox: Michael Cohen’s LLC got secret corporate payments. America needs to know if Trump’s shell companies did too.
- Bloomberg: Money Flowed to Michael Cohen. Where Did It Go?
- TPM: Untangling The Web Of Payments Between Cohen And Elliott Broidy
- STATNews: Trump’s lawyer pitched himself as a fixer to Novartis and got paid $1.2 million
- Reuters: Exclusive – Novartis investigating $85 million bribery allegations in Turkey
- Washington Post: How money flowed through Michael Cohen’s multi-purpose shell company
- ThinkProgress: Why did Columbus Nova register websites aimed at young white supremacists?
- Washington Post: ‘I’m crushing it’: How Michael Cohen, touting his access to President Trump, convinced companies to pay millions
- New York Times: How Michael Cohen, Denied Job in White House, Was Seen as Its Gatekeeper
Resources from May 10
- NPR: Trump Lawyer Cohen’s Camp Rips ‘Inaccurate’ Allegations, Concedes Some Payments
- Washington Post: A taxonomy of Michael Cohen and potential Trump corruption
Featured Photo: Michael Cohen, by IowaPolitics.com. (Source & licensing.)
Notes & Thoughts 