FILE - In this March 22, 2018 file photo, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson leaves the federal courthouse in Washington. Stephenson says the company made a “big mistake” in hiring President Donald Trump’s attorney Michael Cohen as a political consultant. In an internal memo to employees, obtained by The Associated Press, Friday, May 11, Stephenson called the hiring a "serious misjudgment,'" and said that the company's chief lobbyist in Washington is leaving. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
May 11, 2018 - 1:14 PM
NEW YORK - The Latest on President Donald Trump's personal attorney Michael Cohen (all times local):
4:10 p.m.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders says that while companies paid President Donald Trump's personal attorney for insight, the president was not influenced.
Sanders was asked Friday about Michael Cohen's payments from blue chip companies, including AT&T, which sought advice on its proposed purchase of Time Warner.
Sanders noted that the Justice Department had opposed the merger, citing that as proof "the president isn't going to be influenced by outside special interests." She argues this was "actually the definition of draining the swamp."
In a memo to employees, AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson said the company made a "big mistake" in hiring Cohen as a political consultant.
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12:45 p.m.
Rudy Giuliani, one of President Donald Trump's attorneys, says he is "quite certain" the president did not know Michael Cohen was trying to sell his insight into the president.
Giuliani told The Associated Press on Friday that Trump was "surprised" to learn that Cohen, his longtime attorney and self-described fixer, brokered deals with companies looking to gain his knowledge about the president.
Asked if the president was aware that Cohen was trying to sell influence and knowledge of the president, Giuliani said, "The answer is that I am quite certain he didn't."
News from © The Associated Press, 2018