Trump’s Lawyer’s Lawyer Is (Was) a Foreign Agent for Qatar

UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 19: Michael Cohen, left, a personal attorney for President Trump, and his lawyer Stephen Ryan, address the media in Hart Building after the Senate Intelligence Committee meeting to discuss Russian interference in the 2016 election was postponed on September 19, 2017. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 19: Michael Cohen, left, a personal attorney for President Trump, and his lawyer Stephen Ryan, address the media in Hart Building after the Senate Intelligence Committee meeting to discuss R... UNITED STATES - SEPTEMBER 19: Michael Cohen, left, a personal attorney for President Trump, and his lawyer Stephen Ryan, address the media in Hart Building after the Senate Intelligence Committee meeting to discuss Russian interference in the 2016 election was postponed on September 19, 2017. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) MORE LESS
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This is perhaps my favorite bizarre nugget of information of the last 24 hours – and there are many. President Trump’s lawyer’s lawyer is a foreign agent for the government of Qatar. Or at least he was last year when a lot of the shenanigans we’re discussing were happening.

To be clear, here’s the chain of nonsense: Donald J. Trump is (or was?) represented by Michael Cohen. Cohen, in his current maze of allegedly criminal activities which are being investigated by the US Attorney’s Office in New York, is represented by Stephen Ryan. Ryan has also represented him in his testimonies to Congress and with the Special Counsel’s office.

Last year, Ryan and a colleague at his law firm registered with FARA to represent Qatar in “establishing and conducting liaison with executive branch officials and members of Congress” for $40,000 a month. The agreement is dated about three weeks after the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia led a regional blockade/boycott against Qatar. The representation apparently ended two months later.

Cohen repeatedly tried to sign Qatar up as a client and later represented a man with an unfinished nuclear power plant who was trying to get Qatar to invest.

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