LEGAL/MICHAEL COHEN/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT/UKRAINE: “U.S. President Donald Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, received a secret payment of at least $400,000 to arrange talks between Trump and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko last year, the British Broadcasting Corp reported on Wednesday [5-23-18]. The payment was arranged by intermediaries acting for Poroshenko who wanted to open a back channel to the Republican U.S. president, the BBC said, citing unnamed sources in Kiev. Cohen, who was not registered as a representative of Ukraine, was brought in because Ukraine’s registered lobbyists and its embassy in Washington could get Poroshenko little more than a photo op with Trump while the Ukrainian leader ‘needed something that could be portrayed as ‘talks,’’ the broadcaster reported…The two Ukrainians said to have opened the back channel denied the story, the BBC reported. Trump met with Poroshenko at the White House on June 20, 2017, in what was officially called a ‘drop-by’ visit after the Ukrainian leader’s separate talks with Vice President Mike Pence. Poroshenko, speaking to reporters after his session with Trump, said he came away pleased with what he called a ‘full, detailed meeting.'”
-Reuters Staff, “Ukraine paid Trump lawyer Cohen to arrange White House talks: BBC,” Reuters, May 23, 2018 11:41 am