Michael Cohen Received $1.2 Million from Pharma Giant Novartis After Reportedly Promising Access to Trump

According to multiple reports, Michael Cohen positioned himself as a fixer for several companies that wanted access to the Trump administration in exchange for payments to the same shell company which paid hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels.

One of these is pharmaceutical giant Novartis, which acknowledged in a statement that it paid Cohen $100,000 per month for one year beginning in February 2017. When the company took on a new CEO, the contract was not renewed.

“He reached out to us,” an Novartis employee familiar with the matter told STAT News. “With a new administration coming in, basically, all the traditional contacts disappeared and they were all new players. We were trying to find an inroad into the administration.”

“Cohen promised access to not just Trump, but also the circle around him,” the employee added. “It was almost as if we were hiring him as a lobbyist.”

NBC News is also reporting, per a senior official at Novartis, that Cohen was “promising access” to the Trump White House.

As meetings continued, however, STAT News reports that it became clear to Novartis that Cohen may not be able to make good on his promises, and so the company allowed the contract to lapse rather than risk angering the president over severing ties with his personal lawyer.

Other companies which made payments to Cohen for similar access include AT&T, Columbus Nova, and a firm connected to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. Daniels lawyer Michael Avenatti first reported these payments Tuesday.

[image via screengrab]