(UPDATE: BBC Retracts) Report on Michael Cohen Stuns Twitter
UPDATE–– 3/29/19: The BBC has since retracted this report and as of March 28th, 2019, has apologized to President Poroshenko for it, and will be paying him damages.
The article as it originally appeared is below.
The BBC dropped a stunning report on Wednesday revealing that Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was paid at least $400,000 on behalf of Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko to fix talks with President Donald Trump.
The report, based on anonymous sources from Ukraine who spoke with the BBC, reads like a laundry list of potential corruption: Cohen, without registering as a foreign agent, arranged a meeting between Poroshenko and Trump after receiving the payment from Ukraine (which was either 400k or 600k, depending on who you ask), which went down in June 2017.
Poroshenko reportedly wanted his meeting with Trump to be a substantial “talk,” instead of an embarrassingly brief photo-op, and paid Cohen to lock that in.
Cohen struggled to deliver, per the BBC:
The Ukrainian side were angry, the official went on, because Mr Cohen had taken “hundreds of thousands” of dollars from them for something it seemed he could not deliver.
Right up until the last moment, the Ukrainian leader was uncertain if he would avoid humiliation.
“Poroshenko’s inner circle were shocked by how dirty this whole arrangement [with Cohen] was.”
Oh, and there’s also this:
Shortly after the Ukrainian president returned home, his country’s anti-corruption agency stopped its investigation into Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.
This comes after it was revealed Cohen was paid millions by a series of U.S. corporations for his “consulting” services.
The BBC report, which, if true, seems to indicate that Cohen is royally shafted, stunned Twitter:
And I’m certain he followed all the correct FARA lobbying registration procedures https://t.co/k7XrRkkziy
— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) May 23, 2018
If Cohen is using the bribes to pay Trump’s expenses (like paying for his nondisclosure agreements) or Cohen is allowed to keep the money in lieu of pay from Trump for his work, they are in practice bribes to Trump himself. https://t.co/l1VwMvsOiC
— Jonathan Ladd (@jonmladd) May 23, 2018
Holy cow: Cohen was paid $400,000 to broker a meeting between Trump and Ukraine’s president. The meeting took place at the White House in June. One has to wonder out loud how much of that payment made its way to Trump, directly or indirectly. https://t.co/OnNPAG3dmD
— Amy Siskind (@Amy_Siskind) May 23, 2018
This is a blatant Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) violation. Cohen is in big trouble on several fronts. https://t.co/xpY33o7HMZ
— Tommy Vietor (@TVietor08) May 23, 2018
My standard reminder here that, as far as we know, Michael Cohen is STILL on the RNC finance committee….
— Alana Abramson (@aabramson) May 23, 2018
Trump’s National Security Advisor and his personal attorney were unregistered foreign agents. https://t.co/OV5bzlnWLf
— Brandt (@UrbanAchievr) May 23, 2018
How sketchy do you have to be for the Ukrainian political class to be like like “man, this is really unusually sketchy” https://t.co/HL7OEOsFQN pic.twitter.com/hv4rgaRVAB
— Tom Gara (@tomgara) May 23, 2018
lmao this is so hilariously corrupt https://t.co/pOihwxc0aN
— Simon Maloy (@SimonMaloy) May 23, 2018
Forget jail – Michael Cohen is gonna get sent to the Phantom Zone https://t.co/MiCxHUL120
— Patrick Monahan (@pattymo) May 23, 2018
[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]
