Michael Cohen is largely known as Donald Trump’s former and longtime personal attorney, but there’s another job that he held up until he was brought up on federal charges in the Southern District of New York: Deputy Finance Chair of the Republican National Committee.
When the RNC announced that Cohen would serve as the chair, they cited his extensive historical ties to the President as the main selling point for why he would be perfect for the job:
He served for more than a decade as Executive Vice President Special Counsel to President Trump at the Trump Organization and has sat on the boards of multiple Trump organizations, including Trump Productions, the Eric Trump Foundation, and the Miss Universe Organization. In addition to raising millions of dollars for his campaign, Mr. Cohen has been an active spokesperson and advisor for the President during his interest in seeking office since 2011.”
When Cohen pleaded guilty to multiple charges of campaign finance violations, it called into question every single dollar the RNC collected during his more than a year at the head of the committee.
Cohen is not alone in being complicit in Republican dirty money collection: Fellow Deputy Finance Chair Elliot Broidy, the man who resigned the post after it was revealed he had paid off a former Playboy model $1.6 million for her silence about their affair, is now under investigation for selling influence inside the Republican Party.
From a Washington Post story on Broidy, sources report that they are investigating “a plan that Broidy allegedly developed to try to persuade the Trump government to extradite a Chinese dissident back to his home country, a move sought by Chinese President Xi Jinping.” Additionally, the Justice Department is looking into claims that Broidy “sought $75 million from a Malaysian business official if the Justice Department ended its investigation of a development fund run by the Malaysian government.”
After Cohen entered into a plea deal, admitting to paying off adult film star Stormy Daniels at Donald Trump’s request, it seems only a matter of time before the GOP’s funding is investigated due to the two men who have been heading up their fundraising efforts. Cohen’s statement in court directly implicated Donald Trump in the same crimes he was admitting to:
I participated in the conduct for the purposes of influencing the election.”
Featured image via screen capture
