What Did AT&T Want from Michael Cohen?

Michael Cohen, Trump's personal attorney, received four payments totaling $200,000 from AT&T between October 2017 and January 2018. Cohen and AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson entered Trump Tower eight minutes apart on Jan. 12, 2017, according to a pool report at the time. AT&T had two reasons to be keenly interested in Trump's thinking during that period. It, along with other wireless and cable companies, was pushing the Federal Communications Commission to end net neutrality, the rules that bar telecom companies from blocking or favoring certain content. It also needs government approval of its $85 billion proposed acquisition of Time Warner. To be fair, all corporations seek intelligence about the inner workings of new administrations. And corporations needed to work harder for intelligence about the basic workings of the Trump White House than with previous administrations because Trump was an outsider surrounded by few of the well-known Washington hands.

If AT&T was looking to buy influence, it has a mixed record. The FCC under Trump appointee Ajit Pai, voted 3-2 in December 2017 to repeal its 2015 net neutrality rules, freeing telecom firms to create paid “fast lanes” for certain content, or to exempt certain content from data caps in wireless plans, a concept known as “”zero rating.” The move was strongly opposed by most Silicon Valley companies. On the Time Warner merger, however, AT&T has had less success. The Justice Department in November sued to block the deal as anticompetitive. Testimony in that trial ended last week and the judge is expected to rule next month.