AT&T's Executive Who Oversaw Cohen's Contract Forced Out -- Update
May 11 2018 - 10:41AM
Dow Jones News
By Drew FitzGerald
AT&T Inc.'s top Washington executive and policy chief is
being forced out of the company after his office paid $600,000 to
Trump attorney Michael Cohen last year.
The company told employees in an internal memo Friday that Bob
Quinn was retiring, but a person familiar with the matter said Mr.
Quinn was being forced to leave.
"There is no other way to say it -- AT&T hiring Michael
Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake," the company's
chief executive, Randall Stephenson, said in the message to
employees.
Mr. Quinn didn't immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Mr. Stephenson said in his memo that the company's general
counsel, David McAtee, would take over the company's D.C.
operations.
"David's number one priority is to ensure every one of the
individuals and firms we use in the political arena are people who
share our high standards and who we would be proud to have
associated with AT&T, " Mr. Stephenson wrote.
AT&T said earlier this week that it hired a company created
by Mr. Cohen for insights into the Trump administration shortly
after Donald Trump's inauguration, at a time when it needed
government approval for an $85 billion takeover of Time Warner
Inc.
AT&T also said it had been contacted in late 2017 by special
counsel Robert Mueller's office and cooperated with the probe.
The company paid Mr. Cohen through the same vehicle, Essential
Consultants, he used in October 2016 to direct $130,000 to the
adult-film actress known professionally as Stormy Daniels to stay
silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006.
Messrs. Trump and Cohen deny the encounter.
On Wednesday, AT&T told employees that Mr. Cohen didn't
perform legal or lobbying work for the company, adding, "It was not
until the following month in January 2018 that the media first
reported, and AT&T first became aware of, the current
controversy surrounding Cohen."
The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit in November
2017 to block AT&T's proposed merger with Time Warner. The two
sides have spent the past two months battling in federal court. The
deal's outcome is now in the hands of a federal judge, who is
expected to rule on June 12.
Write to Drew FitzGerald at andrew.fitzgerald@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 11, 2018 10:26 ET (14:26 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2018 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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