Exec VP Bob Quinn [right] seen with CEO Randall Stephenson [left], arriving for a meeting at Trump Tower was forced out of his job Friday, in the aftermath of his authorizing ‘bung’ payments to President Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen

AT&T Senior Executive VP of External and Legislative Affairs Bob Quinn was forced out of his job Friday, in the aftermath of his authorizing paying $600,000 to President Trump’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen, according to new report emerging Friday.
The largest American telecommunications company informed employees in a memo that Bob Quinn was retiring. Sources close to events in the company however, said Quinn was forced  out after the embarrassing revelation about the payment, the Wall Street Journal reports, to the Trump ‘Fixer’.

‘Hiring President Trump’s longtime lawyer Michael Cohen was a ‘big mistake’ – Randall Stephenson, AT&T CEO said in an internal memo to staff

In the wake of the negative publicity surrounding the news an internal memo to staff on Friday stated: ”There is no other way to say it — AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake,” company CEO Randall Stephenson said in the message to employees.
Stephenson said in the memo that the company’s general counsel, David McAtee, would take over the company’s DC 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,“ Stephenson wrote.
AT&T admitted earlier this week that it hired Essential Consultants, a shell company created by Cohen that was also used to pay $130,000 in hush money to porn actress Stormy Daniels.
The payments supposedly, was for “insights” into the Trump administration shortly before the president’s inauguration, at the same time it needed government approval for an $85 billion takeover of Time Warner.
Michael Cohen the company said, received $600,000 in exchange for “advice” on a massive potential merger between the telecom giant and Time Warner, it was revealed on Thursday.

Observers are curious regarding the justifications for a seasoned Washington player like AT&T paid, inexperienced and unregistered lobbyist Michael Cohen [photo],  $600K for ‘advice’ on Time Warner merger

Internal documents show that President Trump’s lawyer was paid the money to help guide the company on its proposed $85 billion merger, which must pass federal antitrust regulators, according to The Washington Post.
Cohen, who is not a registered lobbyist, received the cash in installments of $50,000 a month. However, he reportedly, promised access to Trump and his inner circle in exchange for the payoffs, but performed no legal or lobbying work for the company, AT&T said.
The payments were made through an offshore shell company called Essential Consultants. President Trump ultimately opposed the merger.
The payments from AT&T and other corporate entities were exposed earlier this week, initially by, Michael Avenatti, the lawyer for Stormy Daniels. Daniels allegedly was paid to shut up about a one-night stand she said she had with Donald Trump in 2006, a few months after his third wife, Melania, gave birth to their son, Barron.
Trump has denied the fling but offered conflicting accounts about whether he knew about the hush-money payoff.
Daniels as arranged by Cohen, allegedly received $130,000 as part of a Non-Disclosure arrangement, from the same shell company just before the 2016 election.
Cohen, whose office was raided by federal agents last month, is under investigation for possible bank fraud and campaign finance violations.

Michael Avenatti blew the lid on the payments early this week

AT&T announced that the last tranche of payments was disbursed in December 2017.
The telecoms giant who previously stated that they only became aware of Cohen’s legal issues in January 2018, also said that investigators from special counsel Robert Mueller’s team contacted the company in November 2017 and that the company had cooperated with the probe.
Public awareness of the payments to the Cohen slush account peaked after they were revealed earlier this week by Michael Avenatti, Lawyer for Trump accuser Stormy Daniels.
This along with other payments, revealed by Avenatti include cash transfers to Cohen i from pharmaceutical giant Novartis, a US company linked to a Kremlin-connected Russian oligarch and a Korean aerospace company,
Avenatti also said he had more information about Trump’s fixer than he had released.
Cohen —
Novartis, the Swiss pharma company, which has admitted it paid Cohen $1.2 million from February 2017 until Februray 2018 also called the payments a mistake, with company officials concluding after a single meeting with the fixer that he had nothing of value to offer them.
They kept paying him anyway to avoid angering the volatile president, company officials said.
Mueller’s team also contacted Novartis, which said the company fully cooperated with his probe.
Regarding it’s bid for Time Warner, Trump ultimately opposed the merger and the Department of Justice filed suit to block the deal.
the Justice Department is seeking to block AT&T’s purchase of Time Warner on the grounds that it would stifle competition. AT&T disagreed, sending the battle into a federal trial. US District Judge Richard Leon is expected to issue a ruling next month.