AT&T CEO Says it Was Mistake to Hire Trump’s Lawyer

AT&T Inc.’s CEO Randall Stephenson is regretting that it hired Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s personal attorney for advice on working with the president’s administration.

The company had paid a firm that Cohen set up called Essential Consultants LLC, $600,000 last year for the advice.

According to Stephenson, who said this in a memo, the company had hired Cohen and others to assist in navigating on “a wide range of issues.” This includes AT&T’s proposed $85 billion merger with Time Warner Inc.

“There is no other way to say it – AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake,” the memo read.

“To be clear, everything we did was done according to the law and entirely legitimate,” the memo also read.

“But the fact is our past association with Cohen was a serious misjudgment.”

Drugmaker Novartis also said this week that it’s contract with Cohen’s firm was a mistake.

Disclaimer: We have no position in AT&T Inc. (NYSE: T) nor Novartis AG (ADR) (NYSE: NVS) and have not been compensated for this article.