Michael Cohen so represents the low rent shyster lawyer.
Based on what you’ve learned about him from the MSM?
There's several angles to this.
First, yep, he's a shyster, who Trump used for some stuff. Definitely in the Better Call Saul mode. But, the question is, was he freelancing or working for Trump when he shook down AT&T and Novartis? I think he was freelancing.
After all, many companies freely made donations to the Clinton Foundation, ostensibly for the good of the world, but in reality to buy influence. And, I'm sure a number of corporate community projects were undertaken to curry favor with Obama (ask yourself, why would CVS build a store in the nether parts of Baltimore?).
It's the way of the world, or at least its reasonable to assume it, because US politicians have become so incredibly corrupt. Just like most of the rest of the world.
There are two ironies I see here. First, that AT&T and Novartis felt obligated to apologize with these actions since they were done to curry favor with a Trump administration. (That they didn't work is another matter... Trump went against the AT&T merger, and is trying to rationalize runaway drug pricing.)
Second, since its the way of the world, and has been the way here (look at our lobbying industry), isn't it ironic that we have a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act which puts our companies at a disadvantage in competing against other companies with fewer legislated scruples around the world?
As does stormy Daniels lawyer!
And you base that evaluation on the people who love/hate (choose one) Trump???