The Daily Mail is reporting that Trump’s personal attorney is facing new claims that he asked for millions of dollars after Trump’s election victory.
Stormy Daniels’ attorney, Michael Avenatti, appears to have stirred up a hornet’s nest of trouble for team Trump over the weekend, the fallout of which continues to unravel more with each passing day.
The weekend’s events kicked off on Friday, when Avenatti took to Twitter to fire a warning shot at Trump and his embattled personal attorney, Michael Cohen.
“Let this serve as formal notice – there is significantly more evidence and facts to come relating to Mr. Cohen’s dealings and Mr. Trump’s knowledge and involvement. You can come clean now or wait to be outed. Your choice. We have only just begun…” he tweeted.
Let this serve as formal notice – there is significantly more evidence and facts to come relating to Mr. Cohen's dealings and Mr. Trump's knowledge and involvement. You can come clean now or wait to be outed. Your choice. We have only just begun…#Basta
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 11, 2018
Avenatti posted a few more warning shots on Friday and Saturday before dropping a bomb shortly before noon on Sunday (Eastern Time).
Warning ignored. So here it goes.
December 12, 2016 – Trump Tower. Details to follow… pic.twitter.com/aEuuhRHB4a— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 13, 2018
The internet, as well as news agencies, went full defcon on the tweet, speculating on what new revelation Avenatti was going to drop on Team Trump.
Mother Jones was one of the first to sort out Avenatti’s cryptic tweet, publishing an article titled: “Qatari Investor Accused in Bribery Plot Appears With Michael Cohen in Picture Posted by Stormy Daniels’ Lawyer.”
According to Mother Jones:
The photos include a person who appears to be [Ahmed] Al-Rumaihi, who in late 2016 and 2017 was part of an aggressive Qatari effort to forge ties with members of the Trump administration. It has not previously been reported that Qataris, including Al-Rumaihi, met with Cohen in December 2016. Avenatti later followed up with another tweet asking why Cohen was meeting with Al-Rumaihi and Michael Flynn, Trump’s former national security advisor.
Avenatti followed up that same day with a tweet identifying Al-Rumaihi as well.
Why was Ahmed Al-Rumaihi meeting with Michael Cohen and Michael Flynn in December 2016 and why did Mr. Al-Rumaihi later brag about bribing administration officials according to a sworn declaration filed in court?
— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) May 13, 2018
CNN reported early on Tuesday that Al-Rumaihi has admitted to being at Trump tower that day — as reported by Avenatti, Mother Jones, and others.
A Qatari investor referenced in a series of tweets from Michael Avenatti this week confirmed to CNN through a spokesperson on Tuesday that he did attend meetings at Trump Tower in December 2016.
The stated reason: Ahmed Al-Rumaihi wanted face time with Trump transition officials.
“Mr. Al-Rumaihi was at Trump Tower on December 12, 2016. He was there in his then role as head of Qatar Investments, an internal division of QIA, to accompany the Qatari delegation that was meeting with Trump transition officials on that date,” said a spokesperson for Sport Trinity, a company that Al-Rumaihi co-owns. “He did not participate in any meetings with Michael Flynn, and his involvement in the meetings on that date was limited.”
The implications of that admission are massive in scope; however, as The Daily Mail reported Tuesday evening – it gets worse, far worse.
According to The Daily Mail:
Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, is facing claims he asked a Middle Eastern official for millions of dollars to give to ‘Trump family members’ in a meeting at Trump Tower weeks after the president’s election victory, DailyMail.com can reveal.
Cohen is alleged to have asked Ahmed Al-Rumaihi, a former diplomat in charge of a $100bn Qatari investment fund, to send ‘millions’ through him to Trump family members. A source told DailyMail.com that the Qatari said he refused.
Al-Rumaihi on Tuesday issued a statement agreeing that he was at Trump Tower and a source with knowledge of the day said that Cohen had ‘popped in’ briefly to a meeting. Photographs show that he was part of a group greeted by Cohen, who went up in an elevator with them.
DailyMail.com can disclose that the group also included Qatar’s foreign minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
The claims of a demand for ‘millions’ were made by a senior Kuwaiti government source close to Al-Rumaihi.
Providing more background, The Daily Mail added:
Last week DailyMail.com revealed that Al-Rumaihi was accused in court documents of boasting about bribing disgraced Trump former aide Michael Flynn, and attempting to bribe Trump’s former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon – charges which the investor denies.
The Kuwaiti source told DailyMail.com that following DailyMail.com’s disclosure of the court case, Al-Rumaihi called him and boasted that Cohen had asked him for money in exchange for influence in the Trump administration.
The official said: ‘He said Cohen told him to send millions to various members of the Trump family.’ Al-Rumaihi did not do so, the official added. The Trump family members were not named.
This story is breaking and we will update this article, or post subsequent ones as things unravel.
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