Connecting the money between Michael Cohen, Stormy Daniels and a Russian billionaire
Michael Cohen’s orchestration of an Essential Consultants payoff to adult-film actress Stormy Daniels was the first in a series of transactions that entangled him in a criminal investigation that threatens to yield fraud charges against President Trump’s longtime personal lawyer.
Photo credits: TNS, Getty Images and Associated Press
Sign up for the L.A. Times California Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox twice per week.
By continuing, you agree to our Terms of Service, which include arbitration and a class action waiver. You agree that we and our third-party vendors may collect and use your information, including through cookies, pixels and similar technologies, for the purposes set forth in our Privacy Policy such as personalizing your experience and ads.
Follow Us
Michael Finnegan is a former Los Angeles Times crime and politics reporter. He covered federal courts in California and state and national election campaigns, including every presidential race from 2000 to 2020. He was previously a City Hall and statehouse reporter at the New York Daily News.
More From the Los Angeles Times
Podcasts
Kim, an attorney and former San Francisco supervisor, is running against State Sen. Benjamin Allen for the role of running California’s long-beleaguered Department of Insurance. In this episode she talks to Rebuilding L.A. host Kate Cagle about why she should get the job.
The Hillside Strangler murders terrorized Los Angeles in the late 1970s. The killers were a pair of sadistic cousins. One confessed. The other was set to stand trial—until L.A. prosecutors flinched.
Modern LA earned its first smoggy nickname 450 years ago, as the “bay of smokes.” At the La Brea tar pits, we take a short walk through a long history with curator Regan Dunn, who explains how and why the first Angelenos would have set fires that filled the broad bowl of LA and foretold the curse of smog.