President Donald Trump’s former lawyer created and then dissolved a Delaware shell company in the fall of 2016, with the intent of using the company, Resolution Consultants, to pay off a former Playboy model alleging an affair with Trump, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
According to a person familiar with the matter who spoke to the WSJ, Cohen created the Delaware-based company in September 2016 and dissolved it in October 2016. The person told WSJ that Cohen planned to use the company to purchase the rights to Karen McDougal’s story about an alleged long term affair she claims she had with Trump from American Media Inc., which owns the National Enquirer.
The Wall Street Journal reported in January that Cohen created the company Essential Consultants LLC on the same day he dissolved Resolution Consultants, and used Essential Consultants to complete a $130,000 hush payment to Stormy Daniels, the porn star who said she had a sexual affair with Trump.
Cohen mentions creating a company to pay off McDougal in a recently released recording of a conversation he had with Trump in September 2016. The rights to McDougal’s story were never actually purchased, according to the WSJ.
Cohen’s lawyer, who shared the tape with CNN, claims the recording shows Trump suggested Cohen use “cash” to make the payment, which Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani vehemently denies.
“There’s no way the President is going to be setting up a corporation and then using cash, unless you’re a complete idiot,” Giuliani told Fox News Tuesday night.
