Lobbying

Three days after President Donald Trump was sworn into office, AT&T turned to his personal attorney, Michael Cohen, for help on a wide portfolio of issues pending before the federal government — including the company’s proposed merger with Time Warner.

Asked at a news conference if he or his staff had had any conversations with representatives from AT&T while the company was paying Michael Cohen for insights into the new administration, including reportedly on net neutrality, President Donald Trump’s lawyer, now-Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said, "No." He later clarified that Michael Cohen had not come to him to open a door for AT&T. 

Democrats like to advocate for the distribution of wealth, and party politicos from the California Democratic Party joined their friends in Pebble Beach this weekend to spread lots of it. Along with AT&T—their corporate BFFs—Democratic politicos from around the state gathered with lobbyists, captains of industry and others for a schmooze-fest known as the Speaker’s Cup at Pebble Beach.

[Press release] The news reports that AT& T and Swiss-based drugmaker Novartis paid Michael Cohen, President Trumps personal lawyer, an estimated $1.8 million in 2017should set off alarm bells for the lobbying profession, Congress, and the American people. In 2005, it took the actions of one man, Jack Abramoff, for the American people and Congress to come down hard on the lobbying profession. There was legislation seeking to outright ban lobbyist activities to requiring that they report every move they made. Today however is a different story.

Michael Cohen made more than $2 million working as a Trump whisperer. But he's far from the only one. President Donald Trump's longtime lawyer and fixer is the latest member of the president's inner circle to cash in on connections by selling insight into how Trump operates. The president's 2016 victory rattled corporations enough that clients were eager to pay top dollar to anyone who could help them understand the administration in its first months. Many of those insiders have become lobbyists, joining established Washington firms or starting their own shops.

Essential Consultants, a shell company owned by Michael Cohen, has no other known employees or directors. It was incorporated in Delaware on October 17, 2016, 10 days after the Access Hollywood tape went public and a couple weeks before the 2016 election. If AT&T paid a monthly fee of $50,000, Essential Consultants would have received more money in the year than AT&T’s highest-paid lobbying firms, Mayer Brown and Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer, and Feld, which were paid $420,000 and $400,000 respectively.

Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney, received four payments totaling $200,000 from AT&T between October 2017 and January 2018. Cohen and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson entered Trump Tower eight minutes apart on Jan. 12, 2017, according to a pool report at the time. AT&T had two reasons to be keenly interested in Trump's thinking during that period. It, along with other wireless and cable companies, was pushing the Federal Communications Commission to end net neutrality, the rules that bar telecom companies from blocking or favoring certain content.

AT&T said it made payments to Essential Consultants LLC, a company created by Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, in 2017 for “insights” into the Administration at a time when the telecommunications giant needed government approval for an $85 billion takeover of Time Warner Inc. Cohen used Essential Consultants LLC in October 2016 to make a $130,000 payment to former adult-film actress Stephanie Clifford, known professionally as Stormy Daniels, who had alleged she had a sexual encounter with Donald Trump in 2006. AT&T made four payments to Cohen’s firm totaling

House Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) and Subcommittee on Communications and Technology Ranking Member Mike Doyle (D-PA) sent a letter to the Office of Special Counsel requesting an investigation into all three Republican Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Commissioners regarding their involvement with the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). 

Facebook spent more money lobbying the US government in the first quarter of 2018 than it ever has before, according to a new filing. The social media company forked over $3.3 million to steer lawmakers on privacy, security, online advertising and transparency efforts, among other issues.