President Trump’s personal attorney is now working with the Republican Party and a top law firm
WASHINGTON — President Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, has a new job with the Republican National Committee and a partnership with the multinational law firm Squire Patton Boggs. Both of Cohen’s new roles were announced on Monday.
At the RNC, Cohen will join the finance leadership team where he will serve as a national deputy chairman. In a statement announcing the appointment of Cohen and seven others, RNC finance chairman Steve Wynn described them as “ longtime friends of the Party and supporters of this administration.”
In another statement obtained by Yahoo News, Squire Patton Boggs announced it would enter into a “strategic alliance” with Cohen’s firm, Michael D. Cohen & Associates PC. The statement touted Cohen’s position as Trump’s attorney and a member of the RNC’s finance leadership team. It further said he would “work from the firm’s New York, London and Washington offices while maintaining his independence.”
“The strategic alliance will enable the two firms to work together to advance the interests of their clients as Squire Patton Boggs continues building upon its preeminent global public policy offering,” the statement said.
Squire Patton Boggs CEO Mark Ruehlmann said Cohen would be working with the firm’s public policy practice, which is led by former Republican Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott and former Sen. John Breaux, D-La.
“Clients worldwide increasingly confront challenges and look to seize business opportunities that intersect with governments worldwide,” Ruehlmann said in the statement. “We look forward to offering our clients the cutting-edge benefits of our strategic alliance between Michael and our best-in-class global public policy practice, which includes former Speaker of the House John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Senator John Breaux, Congressman Jack Kingston and Secretary of Transportation Rodney Slater and a deep bench of talent around the world.”
Squire Patton Boggs is one of the country’s biggest lobbying firms. Among other clients, the firm has worked with foreign entities including Turkey and the Palestinian Authority. Squire Patton Boggs also represented the Kremlin controlled OAO Gazprombank after the U.S. imposed sanctions on the bank in 2014.
Cohen did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.
A longtime ally of the president, Cohen previously worked as an executive at Trump’s eponymous real estate company. Cohen left his position with the Trump Organization earlier this year in a move he said was designed to avoid any perceived conflict of interest. He described his role as the president’s lawyer as similar to the one he played at Trump’s company.
Cohen was caught up in the rumors surrounding Trump’s ties to the Russian government earlier this year. The infamous dossier compiled by former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele that alleged Russia “has been cultivating, supporting, and assisting” Trump named Cohen as an intermediary between Moscow and Trump’s campaign. Steele’s dossier was unverified and included some clear mistakes. Cohen vehemently denied the allegations, including in an interview with Yahoo News where he said “there’s absolutely no accuracy to anything in that document.”
“I’ve never been to Russia. I have no Russian Kremlin connections,” declared Cohen.
Cohen was not part of Trump’s campaign organization during last year’s presidential election. However, he helped create the National Diversity Coalition for Trump and worked on minority outreach efforts for Trump. Cohen also earned a reputation as a fierce and loyal Trump defender during regular cable news appearances and on Twitter, where he has over 200,000 followers.
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