[34] After this was reported by McClatchy DC in October 2017, Cohen said that all four properties were purchased by an American-owned "New York real estate family fund" that paid cash for the properties in order to obtain a tax deferred (Section 1031) exchange, but did not specifically identify the buyer. [35][39] On October 11, 2018, Cohen re-registered as a Democrat in an effort to distance "himself from the values of the current" administration. I find it hypocritical that those who consider themselves liberal would criticize a woman embracing her body. If you do something wrong, I'm going to come at you, grab you by the neck and I'm not going to let you go until I'm finished. [40][41], Cohen joined the Trump Organization in 2006. [91], On March 5, The Wall Street Journal cited anonymous sources recounting Cohen as saying he missed two deadlines to pay Daniels because Cohen "couldn't reach Mr. Trump in the hectic final days of the presidential campaign", and that after Trump's election, Cohen had complained that he had not been reimbursed for the payment. [64] However, the Mueller Report states "Cohen had never traveled to Prague and was not concerned about those allegations, which he believed were provably false"[65][66]:139, In late January 2017, Cohen met with Ukrainian opposition politician Andrey Artemenko and Felix Sater at the Loews Regency in Manhattan to discuss a plan to lift sanctions against Russia. [150] Some legal scholars opined that Trump's denial that he had knowledge of the Daniels payment, combined with denials by Cohen and his lawyer David Schwartz, meant both sides had effectively said that matter did not involve attorney-client communications. Trump suggested that investigations should instead focus on Cohen's father-in-law, saying "that's the one people want to look at. [144] The FBI obtained the warrant after a referral from Robert Mueller's Special Counsel investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, although underlying reasons for the raid were not revealed. Laura, whose family is from Ukraine and whose given name was Laura Shusterman, married Cohen in 1994.
He said the president had reimbursed him for illegal hush money payments, suggested that he should lie to Congress and the public about the Trump Tower Moscow negotiations, and filed false financial statements with banks and insurance companies. [195][196] After being sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, he was returned to FCI Otisville and held in solitary confinement 23 hours each day, which prevented him from working on his manuscript on prison library computers.
[185], According to a BuzzFeed report on January 17, 2019, President Donald Trump personally directed Cohen to lie to Congress about the Trump Tower Moscow project.