AT&T CEO Apologizes For Hiring Michael Cohen

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NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 20: AT&T Chairman and CEO Randall Stephenson speaks at a news conference in Time Warner headquarters addressing the latest developments in the AT&T and Time Warner merger on November 20, 2017 in New York City. The U.S. Justice Department filed sued today to block AT&T's proposed $85.4 billion takover of of Time. (Photo by Amir Levy/Getty Images)

AT&T has admitted that they were wrong to seek out the advice of Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal lawyer. According to The Washington Post, CEO Randall Stephenson announced that “hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake.” He took full responsibility for AT&T’s failure “to fully vet Cohen before hiring him.”

Politico also says that AT&T’s senior executive vice president for external and legislative affairs, Bob Quinn, will retire in the wake of this scandal. General council David McAtee will replace him “for the foreseeable future.”

AT&T wanted to merge with Time Warner Cable, a move Donald Trump has fiercely opposed. The phone company had paid Cohen $600,000 (up from the previously reported $200,000) for his advice on how to get government approval. They have since had to deal with the Justice Department’s objections.

Novartis, the Swiss pharmaceutical company, also admitted that hiring Cohen for consulting was a “big mistake.” They had paid Cohen $1.2 million for advice on health-care policy work.