Trump’s ‘Jewish Wingman’ Michael Cohen Lashes Out At ‘Fake News’ Of Russia Connection

Michael Cohen Image by Getty Images

By Dave Goldiner February 20, 2017

Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s personal lawyer and “Jewish wingman,” is feeling the heat over his reported role in a back channel between the White House and Russia.

Cohen was named as a key player in a New York Times story about an effort to enlist now-deposed National Security chief Michael Flynn in a deal to help resolve the Ukraine civil war, in exchange for Russia maintaining de facto control over rebel-held regions.

A deal could lead to sanctions being lifted against Russia.

Cohen, who has business and family ties through his wife to Ukraine, told the Times he delivered a proposal from a sometime business partner in the region, Felix Sater, to Flynn’s White House office.

But he later backtracked on that assertion and told the Washington Post he merely accepted the proposal and told Sater to send it to Flynn, branding the Times report “fake news.”

The papers say Cohen could be one of the figures close to Trump whom American intelligence suspects maintained contact with Russia during the presidential campaign, contacts that Trump has mocked as “fake news.”

Dave Goldiner is the Forward’s director of digital media. Dave is a veteran journalist who has spent two decades working at newspapers in the United States and Africa. A native New Yorker, Goldiner wrote for the New York Daily News, where he covered some of the biggest stories of our time, including the attacks of September 11, along with thousands of stories of hope and heartbreak. He also studied and worked in Southern Africa and has written for publications in South Africa and Zimbabwe. He holds masters degrees in journalism and public administration from Columbia University. Dave can be reached at [email protected], or follow him on Twitter @davegoldiner

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