Michael Cohen who is Donald Trump’s personal lawyer reportedly received $400,000 to fix talks between the Ukrainian American presidents in White House. Mr Cohen agreed to assist but didn’t deliver his promise in full.
Donald Trump and Petro Poroshenko met at the White House last June. The only thing Ukrainian side got for $400,000 is a photo of two residents in Oval Office, Mr Cohen took secret payment but the last minute a plan changed due to the White House schedule. According to it, only that Mr Poroshenko would “drop in” to the Oval Office while Mr Trump was having staff meetings. Such a move made Ukrainian side very angry, it hoped on something looks like ‘talks’ not one photo.
Following such an affront, Ukrainian politician used his own contacts at a Jewish charity in New York state, Chabad of Port Washington, which eventually led to Mr Cohen. Both the former aide and the politician have denied the allegations, BBC reported.
“Poroshenko’s inner circle were shocked by how dirty this whole arrangement [with Cohen] was,”
source said.
The meeting did finally happen, however, and, with the Ukrainian leader sitting by his side, Mr Trump said it was a “great honour” to meet Mr Poroshenko and that “a lot of progress has been made” in the US relationship with Ukraine.
Payment for meeting with Donald Trump
The payment was arranged by intermediaries acting for the Ukrainian leader, sources told the BBC, adding there was no suggestion that Mr Trump knew about the deal. Mr Cohen was not registered as a “foreign agent” representing Ukraine – as required by US law.
Mr Cohen denies the allegations against him.
There is another interesting detail – shortly after the Ukrainian president returned home last June, his country’s anti-corruption agency stopped its investigation into Trump’s former campaign manager, Paul Manafort.
President’s office in Ukraine reacted with delay, saying the Ukrainian side wasn’t given time to comment:
“We believe that the blatant disinformation that has been disseminated is a part of a fake campaign aimed at discrediting Ukraine-US relations, as well as a personal attack against the Presidents of Ukraine and the US.”
