Donald Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen ‘met with Russian oligarch at Trump Tower just before inauguration’
Trump’s personal lawyer discussed foreign policy with Viktor Vekselberg, Vekselberg’s cousin has alleged
US President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, met with a Kremlin-connected Russian billionaire in Manhattan 11 days before the presidential inauguration to discuss their mutual interest in improving US-Russia relations, according to a report.
Cohen held the January 9, 2017, meeting in his office on the 26th floor of Trump Tower to talk foreign policy with Viktor Vekselberg, a Russian oligarch whose closeness to the Kremlin landed him on the Treasury Department’s sanctions list earlier this year, Vekselberg’s cousin told The New York Times.
And around two weeks later, Cohen was awarded a US$1 million consulting contract by Columbus Nova, a private investment firm run by that same cousin, Andrew Intrater.
Intrater said he attended the Trump Tower meeting and described it as brief and casual. He also said that Cohen and Vekselberg made plans to meet again at Trump’s inauguration.
Columbus Nova awarded Cohen the contract soon after Trump’s inauguration; the deal is now under scrutiny from federal investigators examining Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Vekselberg is Intrater’s biggest client and invests in business ventures on his behalf.