Cohen Isn’t the Biggest Catch from Trump World
Other players know far more about the president’s dealings than his lawyer does
By Timothy L. O’Brien
Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, will be in a federal courtroom on Monday, arguing that he has the right to review documents that FBI agents seized when they raided his office and residences last week.
Reporters will be in the courtroom, too. The media is excited about what might emerge from Cohen’s legal travails, and for good reason. But it’s also worth remembering what Cohen actually did at the Trump Organization — and not to assume that his evident downfall portends doom for Trump’s presidency.
Cohen started working for Trump in 2006, and has brought potential licensing deals to the president’s attention for years. He worked with the career criminal and Trump business partner Felix Sater on a proposal for a Trump project in Moscow, as well as an initiative to end economic sanctions against Russia over its military annexation of part of Ukraine.
Cohen, an in-house fixer at the Trump Organization who actually practiced very little law, also helped resolve various messes Trump found himself in. That included, most famously, arranging to pay a porn star named Stormy Daniels to stay…
