Hannity's attorney-client privilege claim puts Cohen in an ethical bind
It's the classic test on the law school exam: A friend approaches a lawyer at a party and seeks legal advice. Is attorney-client privilege in play?
by Danny Cevallos / Apr.17.2018 / 11:54 PM ET
Legal analysis
Michael Cohen has said he had only three clients in 2017 and 2018: President Donald Trump; Elliott Broidy; the former deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee; and, until yesterday, someone Cohen did not want to identify. But in court on Monday, Cohen's lawyer was forced by the judge to reveal the client's name: Sean Hannity, the Fox News host.
Hannity quickly addressed the news on his radio show, claiming that he never retained Cohen in the "traditional" sense, but that they still had attorney-client privilege.
"Michael never represented me in any matter, I never retained him in the traditional sense as retaining a lawyer, I never received an invoice from Michael, I never paid legal fees to Michael," Hannity said. "We definitely had attorney-client privilege because I asked him for that but, you know, he never sent me a bill or an invoice." Hannity also recalled that he "might have handed him 10 bucks."
Report: Hannity 'basically has a desk' in Trump's White House
Hannity later tweeted that he "assumed" his conversations with Cohen "were confidential, but to be absolutely clear, they never involved any matter between me and a third-party." The conservative Fox host said the discussions were "almost exclusively about real estate."
It's the classic test on the law school professional responsibility exam: A person approaches a friend-attorney at a cocktail party and requests legal advice, without a written retainer agreement or payment of a fee. Does an implied attorney-client relationship arise?
The ethics opinions are similarly full of examples of a would-be client insisting a law firm took his case, while the firm says there were only conversations, not the creation of an attorney-client relationship. The Hannity-Cohen situation is the reverse: The attorney is insisting there was a relationship; the client is minimizing that.
In New York, the formation of the attorney-client relationship focuses upon the client's reasonable belief that he is consulting a lawyer, in his capacity as a lawyer, and his manifest intent to seek professional legal advice. The formality of, say, a written agreement or an invoice, is not an essential element in the employment of an attorney, though the attorney is encouraged to reduce agreements to writing.
The federal court in the Southern District of New York will look at the words used, and the conduct of the attorney and the putative client. Formality is one of several factors considered by the courts, including the existence of a signed fee arrangement, payment of a fee, and whether the attorney actually represented the individual at something like a court hearing or deposition. Another important factor is whether the supposed client reasonably believed that the attorney was representing him.
Hannity downplays relationship, but is someone lying?
But the Southern District has cautioned that a party's one-sided belief that he is represented by counsel does not automatically create an attorney-client relationship unless there is a reasonable basis for that belief by the "client."
Ultimately, to establish an implied attorney-client relationship, the "client" must show that he submitted confidential information to a lawyer with the reasonable belief that the lawyer was acting as his attorney. When that happens, a court should at least enforce the obligation of confidence, irrespective of the absence of a formal attorney-client relationship.
Hannity is right that if he reasonably expected he was seeking and receiving legal advice, an implied attorney-client relationship may be inferred from his interactions with Cohen. That implied relationship, if it existed, at least imposed upon Cohen a duty of confidentiality, and raised the possibility of attorney-client privileged communications.
So why was the federal court able to force Cohen's attorneys to reveal the relationship?
The attorney-client privilege only protects confidential communications between client and attorney for the purpose of obtaining or providing legal advice. The identity of a client, or the fact that someone has become a client, is information that an attorney normally may not refuse to disclose.
Attorney-client privilege is not the same as the attorney's ethical duty of confidentiality. The ethical duty of confidentiality is much broader than information protected by the attorney-client privilege.
Indeed, attorneys have risked being held in contempt of court, rather than disclose the identity of their clients. Cohen was caught between Scylla and Charybdis: The privilege did not give him the legal right to refuse to disclose his client's identity. But disclosure potentially violated his ethical obligation of keeping his client's identity secret — especially when the client may have asked Cohen to keep it secret.
Danny Cevallos is an MSNBC legal analyst. Follow @CevallosLaw on Twitter.
Wednesday, April 18, 2018
Will Trump Make a Bad Deal With North Korea? - TIME
Will Trump Make a Bad Deal With North Korea?
By W.J. HENNIGAN and BRIAN BENNETT April 17, 2018 10:20 PM EDT
As the Trump Administration moves closer to talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, fears are mounting from allies and U.S. national security officials on whether President Donald Trump can secure a landmark nuclear deal without giving away too much.
In between meetings with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the ornate halls of Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump revealed that the U.S. is in direct talks at “extremely high levels” with North Korean officials. The Washington Post reported that Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, outgoing CIA Director Mike Pompeo, met with Kim in North Korea over Easter Weekend.
The stakes are incredibly high. Kim and his predecessors have long wanted formal recognition as a nuclear power and for the 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea to leave the Korean peninsula. He has relayed to the Trump Administration that he is willing to discuss denuclearization, but senior U.S. national security officials are wary of entering a protracted negotiation process that might buy Pyongyang time to complete its development of a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach American shores.
Analysts believe Kim’s nuclear weapons program is continuing to advance rapidly and could be within a year of a fully capable nuclear-tipped ballistic missile that can reach the U.S. mainland.
“The big fear is Donald Trump gets in a room with Kim Jong Un and offers to pull all troops from the region in order to get Pyongyang to give up their nukes,” said Joel Wit, a founder of the 38north.org website on North Korea that’s affiliated with Johns Hopkins University.
In particular, Abe has concerns that a possible deal between the U.S. and North Korea could leave Japan vulnerable to attack, Wit said. “But at the end of the day, Trump is going to do what he wants to do.”
Trump said he would like to meet with Kim by “early June” and added that five different potential locations are under consideration. In the meantime, a similar meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in is scheduled to take place on April 27 at the demilitarized zone between North and South.
Trump remarkably gave his “blessing” to the South Korea and North Korea leaders discussing a formal end to the Korean War, which has continued despite an end to battlefield fighting after the signing of an armistice in 1953, a step that American presidents have long insisted come only after Pyongyang agree to give up its nuclear weapons program.
Trump’s unexpected announcements with Abe sitting next to him in a matching blue and white striped tie, only set in relief how sidelined Japan has been far in the negotiations over Korea, which have mostly been handled out of Seoul and Washington.
North Korea’s string of 23 missile launches last year posed serious national security concerns for Abe. Several of the tested missiles fell in the sea just a couple hundred miles off the coast of Japan, and several of them completely flew over the northern part of the country. Narushige Michishita, a former Japanese Defense Ministry official who teaches at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, said Abe is aware that dialogue with North Korea is important, but it must be backed by pressure.
“North Korea has used the same combined tactics of brinkmanship and peace overture in the past,” Michishita said. “Abe knows it very well, and he will share his experience with Trump.”
Abe pressed Trump during their private meeting to tell reporters the U.S. would bring up the fate of dozens of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s when Trump meets with Kim. Abe is under tremendous political pressure at home as his ratings tumble in the wake of a widening scandal over the sale of state-owned land and allegations Abe’s administration took steps to over it up. Demanding North Korea come clean over the kidnapping of Japanese citizens has been a central issue in Abe’s political career.
Later, speaking to reporters, Trump obliged Abe and agreed to bring up Japanese abductees with Kim.
“We will bring up the abductees. We’ll bring up many different things. I think it’s a time for talking, it’s a time for solving problems,” Trump said.
For his part, Abe gave Trump credit for a “major change in terms of North Korea’s behavior” since Kim sent a delegation to the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.
The world breathed a collective sigh of relief after the games came and went this year without incident. There’s no denying that Trump – by first insulting and then agreeing to meet with Kim — is trying a new approach in a field where traditional ways of approaching diplomacy have failed.
The United Nations Security Council has repeatedly slapped crippling sanctions on Pyongyang since 2006 when the nation carried out its first nuclear test. The measures cut North Korea from much of the world’s economy, but hasn’t stop the steady advances in military technology.
North Korea does appear to have slowed down its overt testing efforts, which may be a result of Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign, or, a reflection that Pyeongyang has learned what it needed to learn from its missile tests last year and is secretly working on another aspect of the program.
After decades of defying international pressure to hold off on additional weapons development, North Korea has yet to test-launch a missile in 2018. By this time last year, North Korea had carried out five tests of eight missiles.
But the question is can it hold? Can the Trump Administration diplomatically engage the world’s most isolated and despotic regimes from staying nuclear?
“He’s willing to make pronouncements that no American president has been willing to make,” said Jim Walsh, an expert of North Korea at MIT. “Sometimes it is positive, sometimes it is not productive.”
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man...
12:30 AM - Oct 2, 2017
In a sharp contrast to calling Kim “little Rocket Man” on Twitter last fall, Trump seemed to go out of his way to show respect for Kim on Tuesday, saying he is looking forward to meeting with Kim and hopes it will be a success. “I can say this: They do respect us. We are respectful of them. And we’re going to see what happens.”
By W.J. HENNIGAN and BRIAN BENNETT April 17, 2018 10:20 PM EDT
As the Trump Administration moves closer to talks with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, fears are mounting from allies and U.S. national security officials on whether President Donald Trump can secure a landmark nuclear deal without giving away too much.
In between meetings with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in the ornate halls of Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, Trump revealed that the U.S. is in direct talks at “extremely high levels” with North Korean officials. The Washington Post reported that Trump’s nominee for Secretary of State, outgoing CIA Director Mike Pompeo, met with Kim in North Korea over Easter Weekend.
The stakes are incredibly high. Kim and his predecessors have long wanted formal recognition as a nuclear power and for the 28,000 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea to leave the Korean peninsula. He has relayed to the Trump Administration that he is willing to discuss denuclearization, but senior U.S. national security officials are wary of entering a protracted negotiation process that might buy Pyongyang time to complete its development of a nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missile that can reach American shores.
Analysts believe Kim’s nuclear weapons program is continuing to advance rapidly and could be within a year of a fully capable nuclear-tipped ballistic missile that can reach the U.S. mainland.
“The big fear is Donald Trump gets in a room with Kim Jong Un and offers to pull all troops from the region in order to get Pyongyang to give up their nukes,” said Joel Wit, a founder of the 38north.org website on North Korea that’s affiliated with Johns Hopkins University.
In particular, Abe has concerns that a possible deal between the U.S. and North Korea could leave Japan vulnerable to attack, Wit said. “But at the end of the day, Trump is going to do what he wants to do.”
Trump said he would like to meet with Kim by “early June” and added that five different potential locations are under consideration. In the meantime, a similar meeting between Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in is scheduled to take place on April 27 at the demilitarized zone between North and South.
Trump remarkably gave his “blessing” to the South Korea and North Korea leaders discussing a formal end to the Korean War, which has continued despite an end to battlefield fighting after the signing of an armistice in 1953, a step that American presidents have long insisted come only after Pyongyang agree to give up its nuclear weapons program.
Trump’s unexpected announcements with Abe sitting next to him in a matching blue and white striped tie, only set in relief how sidelined Japan has been far in the negotiations over Korea, which have mostly been handled out of Seoul and Washington.
North Korea’s string of 23 missile launches last year posed serious national security concerns for Abe. Several of the tested missiles fell in the sea just a couple hundred miles off the coast of Japan, and several of them completely flew over the northern part of the country. Narushige Michishita, a former Japanese Defense Ministry official who teaches at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, said Abe is aware that dialogue with North Korea is important, but it must be backed by pressure.
“North Korea has used the same combined tactics of brinkmanship and peace overture in the past,” Michishita said. “Abe knows it very well, and he will share his experience with Trump.”
Abe pressed Trump during their private meeting to tell reporters the U.S. would bring up the fate of dozens of Japanese citizens abducted by North Korea in the 1970s and 1980s when Trump meets with Kim. Abe is under tremendous political pressure at home as his ratings tumble in the wake of a widening scandal over the sale of state-owned land and allegations Abe’s administration took steps to over it up. Demanding North Korea come clean over the kidnapping of Japanese citizens has been a central issue in Abe’s political career.
Later, speaking to reporters, Trump obliged Abe and agreed to bring up Japanese abductees with Kim.
“We will bring up the abductees. We’ll bring up many different things. I think it’s a time for talking, it’s a time for solving problems,” Trump said.
For his part, Abe gave Trump credit for a “major change in terms of North Korea’s behavior” since Kim sent a delegation to the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang.
The world breathed a collective sigh of relief after the games came and went this year without incident. There’s no denying that Trump – by first insulting and then agreeing to meet with Kim — is trying a new approach in a field where traditional ways of approaching diplomacy have failed.
The United Nations Security Council has repeatedly slapped crippling sanctions on Pyongyang since 2006 when the nation carried out its first nuclear test. The measures cut North Korea from much of the world’s economy, but hasn’t stop the steady advances in military technology.
North Korea does appear to have slowed down its overt testing efforts, which may be a result of Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign, or, a reflection that Pyeongyang has learned what it needed to learn from its missile tests last year and is secretly working on another aspect of the program.
After decades of defying international pressure to hold off on additional weapons development, North Korea has yet to test-launch a missile in 2018. By this time last year, North Korea had carried out five tests of eight missiles.
But the question is can it hold? Can the Trump Administration diplomatically engage the world’s most isolated and despotic regimes from staying nuclear?
“He’s willing to make pronouncements that no American president has been willing to make,” said Jim Walsh, an expert of North Korea at MIT. “Sometimes it is positive, sometimes it is not productive.”
Donald J. Trump
✔
@realDonaldTrump
I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man...
12:30 AM - Oct 2, 2017
In a sharp contrast to calling Kim “little Rocket Man” on Twitter last fall, Trump seemed to go out of his way to show respect for Kim on Tuesday, saying he is looking forward to meeting with Kim and hopes it will be a success. “I can say this: They do respect us. We are respectful of them. And we’re going to see what happens.”
After Mike Pompeo's trip to North Korea, this is what we can work out about Trump and Kim Jong-un's upcoming talks - Independent
April 18, 2018
After Mike Pompeo's trip to North Korea, this is what we can work out about Trump and Kim Jong-un's upcoming talks
Where the talks will probably be held, what might be discussed and why less media coverage means more progress
Colin Alexander
The talks between Trump and Kim are scheduled for mid-May AFP/Getty
The revelation that CIA director Mike Pompeo met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang over the Easter holidays appears to confirm that both sides are eager for talks between the leaders of the two countries to go ahead.
In 2000, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright travelled to North Korea for talks with Kim’s father Kim Jong-il when he was leader, but no official meetings between senior political personnel have occurred since.
So what does Pompeo’s visit mean for the future of talks between Kim and Trump, scheduled for late May or early June this year, considering that it’s been reported Pompeo was laying the groundwork for the logistics surrounding them as recently as two weeks ago?
Kim and his entourage are unlikely to fly or travel by boat to any talks with Trump; his and his predecessors’ preferences have always been to travel by rail. Somewhere in northern China, then, is the most likely venue. The city of Vladivostok on Russia’s Pacific coast is a viable alternative to China, although this option is hampered by both the United States’ ongoing consternation with Vladimir Putin and China’s insistence that it play a key role facilitating and mediating these diplomatic discussions. Nothing has been announced yet but, if I were a betting man, I would say that China is the obvious choice.
Despite Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang, it remains unlikely that Donald Trump and his team would travel to North Korea and even less likely that Kim Jong-un would go to the United States (despite his love of basketball and the chance to catch up with his old buddy Dennis Rodman). It is also unlikely that the talks will be held either in the contested demilitarised zone on North Korea’s southern border or in South Korea, although this cannot be ruled out.
Technically the North still does not formally recognise the South’s integrity as an independent government and this would make the North’s agreement to holding talks there a tacit acknowledgement of the South’s credibility and usefulness. Moreover, in what has proved to be a tense military scenario since September 2016, when the North tested what appeared to be a nuclear bomb underground, it would be unwise to escalate tensions further by holding talks in the hostile demilitarized zone. The zone is, after all, a potent symbol of ongoing conflict.
CIA Chief Mike Pompeo on threat of North Korea in 2017
Weight was added to the likelihood of a China venue a few weeks ago when Kim Jong-un made his first official trip abroad since becoming leader of North Korea in 2011; he and his wife met with President Xi Jinping of China and his wife Peng Liyuan in Beijing. Kim travelled on his exclusive train from Pyongyang with the meeting only being confirmed once the train had returned safely over the border into North Korea. This continued that long family legacy of train-only travel with strict stipulations.
As supreme leader, Kim Jong-un’s grandfather Kim Il-sung made his longest trip by train in 1974 when he travelled to and from North Korea on a tour of Eastern Europe’s Soviet Socialist Republics. Kim Jong-il, who apparently had a fear of flying, travelled by rail to Russia to meet Vladimir Putin in 2001 and again in August 2011, shortly before dying of a heart attack on his train in December 2011 within North Korea.
Such is the apparent pride that North Korea takes in its former leaders’ passion for the railways that the mausoleums of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang – in which one can view their embalmed bodies at relatively close quarters, as well as peruse attached museums – have grand rooms dedicated solely to their former leaders’ international travels by train. One can even look inside the train carriage in which Kim Jong-il died in December 2011, complete with the old grey anorak that he was often seen wearing in public during winter months still hanging on its peg behind his desk.
This is not to say that the Kims historically always refused to step into a plane. In 1965 President Kim Il-sung, accompanied by his then 24-year-old son and successor Kim Jong-il, travelled by air to Indonesia for the 10th anniversary of the landmark 1955 Bandung Conference on Asia-Africa affairs. However, in later years, as the diplomatic isolation of North Korea increased, the country’s leaders have received fewer invitations and have had less inclination to travel overseas – and they have done so only by rail.
Kim Jong-un was invited to Moscow in 2015 as part of the commemoration events to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Soviet Union’s contribution to the Allied campaigns in the Second World War. However, after some speculation over his attendance, he opted to stay away. Perhaps it was the thought of the travel time that put him off.
But back to the upcoming talks between him and Donald Trump. One major point of interest is much media presence will be allowed in, and how much the public internationally will be allowed to know about what’s discussed.
The supreme leaders of North Korea rarely meet other heads of state and when they have there has been limited, if any, media coverage. Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang and Kim’s recent visit to China, revealed after their conclusions, are cases in point, and it may be that we also do not find out about Kim and Trump’s meeting until after it has happened.
This might be a frustration for those of us who are avid followers of North Korea and international diplomacy, and who are keen to see the demeanours of arguably the two most notorious politicians of our time when they meet. However, it is not all bad news.
Political communications theory backed up by historical experience tells us that when diplomacy goes public, it tends to reduce the level of substance within the discussion. Indeed, the interaction may become a mere exercise in public relations rather than a frank discussion and negotiation between leaders and their representatives.
The extent of the media’s access to the likely meeting between Kim and Trump, therefore, will be an indicator of how much substance (versus showmanship) is involved in those talks. A very public meeting, while powerful in its symbolism and offering significant “infotainment” value to the public, may not deliver much in terms of altering the strained power dynamics between the two countries.
Those of us whose primary concern is nuclear disarmament or the de-escalation of the nuclear threat rhetoric will have to accept that the prospect for peace will likely be higher if the two leaders are able to debate privately with an agreed joint communique. It means less access for us, and perhaps only a single photograph of a handshake being released to the world’s media afterwards, but it could quite literally also mean the world.
Colin Alexander is a lecturer in Political Communications at Nottingham Trent University
After Mike Pompeo's trip to North Korea, this is what we can work out about Trump and Kim Jong-un's upcoming talks
Where the talks will probably be held, what might be discussed and why less media coverage means more progress
Colin Alexander
The talks between Trump and Kim are scheduled for mid-May AFP/Getty
The revelation that CIA director Mike Pompeo met North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Pyongyang over the Easter holidays appears to confirm that both sides are eager for talks between the leaders of the two countries to go ahead.
In 2000, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright travelled to North Korea for talks with Kim’s father Kim Jong-il when he was leader, but no official meetings between senior political personnel have occurred since.
So what does Pompeo’s visit mean for the future of talks between Kim and Trump, scheduled for late May or early June this year, considering that it’s been reported Pompeo was laying the groundwork for the logistics surrounding them as recently as two weeks ago?
Kim and his entourage are unlikely to fly or travel by boat to any talks with Trump; his and his predecessors’ preferences have always been to travel by rail. Somewhere in northern China, then, is the most likely venue. The city of Vladivostok on Russia’s Pacific coast is a viable alternative to China, although this option is hampered by both the United States’ ongoing consternation with Vladimir Putin and China’s insistence that it play a key role facilitating and mediating these diplomatic discussions. Nothing has been announced yet but, if I were a betting man, I would say that China is the obvious choice.
Despite Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang, it remains unlikely that Donald Trump and his team would travel to North Korea and even less likely that Kim Jong-un would go to the United States (despite his love of basketball and the chance to catch up with his old buddy Dennis Rodman). It is also unlikely that the talks will be held either in the contested demilitarised zone on North Korea’s southern border or in South Korea, although this cannot be ruled out.
Technically the North still does not formally recognise the South’s integrity as an independent government and this would make the North’s agreement to holding talks there a tacit acknowledgement of the South’s credibility and usefulness. Moreover, in what has proved to be a tense military scenario since September 2016, when the North tested what appeared to be a nuclear bomb underground, it would be unwise to escalate tensions further by holding talks in the hostile demilitarized zone. The zone is, after all, a potent symbol of ongoing conflict.
CIA Chief Mike Pompeo on threat of North Korea in 2017
Weight was added to the likelihood of a China venue a few weeks ago when Kim Jong-un made his first official trip abroad since becoming leader of North Korea in 2011; he and his wife met with President Xi Jinping of China and his wife Peng Liyuan in Beijing. Kim travelled on his exclusive train from Pyongyang with the meeting only being confirmed once the train had returned safely over the border into North Korea. This continued that long family legacy of train-only travel with strict stipulations.
As supreme leader, Kim Jong-un’s grandfather Kim Il-sung made his longest trip by train in 1974 when he travelled to and from North Korea on a tour of Eastern Europe’s Soviet Socialist Republics. Kim Jong-il, who apparently had a fear of flying, travelled by rail to Russia to meet Vladimir Putin in 2001 and again in August 2011, shortly before dying of a heart attack on his train in December 2011 within North Korea.
Such is the apparent pride that North Korea takes in its former leaders’ passion for the railways that the mausoleums of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang – in which one can view their embalmed bodies at relatively close quarters, as well as peruse attached museums – have grand rooms dedicated solely to their former leaders’ international travels by train. One can even look inside the train carriage in which Kim Jong-il died in December 2011, complete with the old grey anorak that he was often seen wearing in public during winter months still hanging on its peg behind his desk.
This is not to say that the Kims historically always refused to step into a plane. In 1965 President Kim Il-sung, accompanied by his then 24-year-old son and successor Kim Jong-il, travelled by air to Indonesia for the 10th anniversary of the landmark 1955 Bandung Conference on Asia-Africa affairs. However, in later years, as the diplomatic isolation of North Korea increased, the country’s leaders have received fewer invitations and have had less inclination to travel overseas – and they have done so only by rail.
Kim Jong-un was invited to Moscow in 2015 as part of the commemoration events to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the Soviet Union’s contribution to the Allied campaigns in the Second World War. However, after some speculation over his attendance, he opted to stay away. Perhaps it was the thought of the travel time that put him off.
But back to the upcoming talks between him and Donald Trump. One major point of interest is much media presence will be allowed in, and how much the public internationally will be allowed to know about what’s discussed.
The supreme leaders of North Korea rarely meet other heads of state and when they have there has been limited, if any, media coverage. Pompeo’s visit to Pyongyang and Kim’s recent visit to China, revealed after their conclusions, are cases in point, and it may be that we also do not find out about Kim and Trump’s meeting until after it has happened.
This might be a frustration for those of us who are avid followers of North Korea and international diplomacy, and who are keen to see the demeanours of arguably the two most notorious politicians of our time when they meet. However, it is not all bad news.
Political communications theory backed up by historical experience tells us that when diplomacy goes public, it tends to reduce the level of substance within the discussion. Indeed, the interaction may become a mere exercise in public relations rather than a frank discussion and negotiation between leaders and their representatives.
The extent of the media’s access to the likely meeting between Kim and Trump, therefore, will be an indicator of how much substance (versus showmanship) is involved in those talks. A very public meeting, while powerful in its symbolism and offering significant “infotainment” value to the public, may not deliver much in terms of altering the strained power dynamics between the two countries.
Those of us whose primary concern is nuclear disarmament or the de-escalation of the nuclear threat rhetoric will have to accept that the prospect for peace will likely be higher if the two leaders are able to debate privately with an agreed joint communique. It means less access for us, and perhaps only a single photograph of a handshake being released to the world’s media afterwards, but it could quite literally also mean the world.
Colin Alexander is a lecturer in Political Communications at Nottingham Trent University
South Korea considering peace treaty with North - Guardian
South Korea considering peace treaty with North
Replacing current armistice would be contingent on Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear ambitions, Seoul says
Justin McCurry and agencies in Seoul
Wed 18 Apr 2018 13.26 AEST Last modified on Wed 18 Apr 2018 13.59 AEST
North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un
South Korea may seek to replace its uneasy truce with North Korea with a formal peace treaty, according to officials in Seoul, as the country’s president, Moon Jae-in, prepares to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un next week.
The officials added, however, that negotiating a peace treaty to replace the armistice agreed by the two Koreas at the end of their 1950-53 war would be contingent on Pyongyang abandoning its nuclear ambitions.
North Korea: Mike Pompeo met with Kim Jong-un over Easter, say US officials
Read more
Chung Eui-yong, head of South Korea’s presidential national security office, said Seoul and Washington were exploring several ways in which to reward the North for agreeing to its complete and verifiable denuclearisation.
Among the options are peace treaties with both South Korea and the US.
“We are discussing how we could remove the security concerns held by North Korea,” Chung was quoted as saying by Yonhap news agency.
“We have also held in-depth discussions on how we could guarantee the North’s bright future should the North make the right decision.”
On Tuesday, the US president Donald Trump, gave his blessing to talks aimed at formally ending the Korean war.
“People don’t realize the Korean War has not ended. It’s going on right now. And they are discussing an end to the war,” he said. “Subject to a deal they have my blessing and they do have my blessing to discuss that.”
Raising expectations for a major breakthrough at a series of upcoming summits, Trump said “a great chance to solve a world problem” was within reach on the Korean peninsula.
The countries signed an armistice in 1953. Kim and Moon will meet for the first time on 27 April.
There has been no immediate response from North Korea to the suggestion that a peace treaty may be in the offing, but Kim reportedly told Chung in Pyongyang in early March that the regime would consider giving up its nuclear arsenal in exchange for security guarantees from South Korea and the US.
Every Embarrassing Story Michael Cohen Tried to Squash - Intelligencer ( New York Magazine )
April 17, 2018
7:24 am
Every Embarrassing Story Michael Cohen Tried to Squash
By
Margaret Hartmann
@MargHartmann
Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal attorney, has proudly described himself as his “family fix-it guy,” but now federal prosecutors are looking into whether his efforts to protect his beloved boss were part of a pattern of illegal behavior.
The raid of Cohen’s home, office, and hotel room last week reportedly sought information on his payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, and his connection to tabloid publisher American Media Inc.’s payment to former Playmate Karen McDougal, both of whom claim they had an affair with Trump. Steve Bannon was quoted as saying Trump’s attorneys “took care of” a hundred similar claims during the campaign.
So far, we’ve learned of fewer than a dozen incidents in which Cohen allegedly covered up negative Trump-related press using deals, lawsuits, or threats. Here are all the scandals that became public anyway, and what they reveal about Cohen’s tactics.
Beauty Contestant Claims Pageant Is Rigged
The Story: A day after competing in the 2012 Miss USA pageant, Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin resigned her title, claiming in a Facebook post that the competition was rigged. She wrote:
I witnessed another contestant who said she saw the list of the Top 5 (contestants) BEFORE THE SHOW EVER STARTED proceed to call out in order who the Top 5 were before they were announced on stage…After it was indeed the Top 5 I knew the show must be rigged; I decided at that moment to distance myself from an organization who did not allow fair play and whose morals did not match my own.
Cohen’s Role: Cohen called into TMZ and said Monnin had 24 hours to retract her claim, or she would be hit with a defamation suit seeking “massive damages.” In accordance with the terms of the contract she signed with the Miss USA Organization, Trump’s attorneys submitted a claim for arbitration without notifying Monnin. By the time she realized what was happening (she later settled a malpractice claim against her attorney) it was too late to defend herself, and she was hit with a $5 million defamation penalty. She reportedly negotiated that down to $1 million, and the judgement was satisfied in 2014.
Her father, Philip Monnin, told The Daily Beast that he had two phone calls with Cohen in 2013, in which the attorney engaged in “bullying tactics and intimidation.”
“He threw a fit on the phone,” Philip Monnin said of the second call. “He basically said if I went along with my daughter I was an idiot. And said that she should apologize and if she didn’t want to, then ‘Game on,’ and he slammed the phone down. And that was the end of the conversation.”
Don Jr.’s Alleged Affair With Aubrey O’Day
The Story: Donald Trump Jr., who was a judge on Celebrity Apprentice, reportedly had an affair with singer/contestant Aubrey O’Day. News of the affair broke last month when Trump Jr.’s wife filed for divorce.
Cohen’s Role: Us Weekly was ready to expose the story in 2013, but Cohen reportedly killed it by threatening the tabloid’s reporters. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday:
The magazine, then owned by Wenner Media, had what staffers believed to be a solid source on the alleged affair by the younger Mr. Trump and called the Trump Organization for comment, according to the people involved in the matter. They received a call back from Mr. Cohen, who threatened legal action and became so irate that they muted the call while he spoke, one of these people said.
“We were all on speakerphone and huddled around the phone,” this person said. “He was just one of these New York characters where he was just like swearing at us and totally over-the-top threatening.”
The magazine reportedly decided the story wasn’t worth a legal fight, especially because it had a good relationship with the Trump family on Apprentice-related stories.
Ivana Trump’s Rape Allegation
The Story: In July 2015, the Daily Beast reported that Trump’s first wife Ivana accused him of raping her in a deposition taken during their ‘90s divorce case. When Ivana’s description of the incident was about to be revealed in the 1993 book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, Trump and his lawyers had a statement inserted into the book in which Ivana said her words should not be interpreted “in a literal or criminal sense.”
Cohen’s Role: Cohen tried to prevent the Daily Beast from running the story, first by arguing, falsely, that marital rape is legal, and then by threatening a lawsuit.
“I will make sure that you and I meet one day while we’re in the courthouse. And I will take you for every penny you still don’t have. And I will come after your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know,” Cohen told a reporter. “So I’m warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. You understand me?”
Trump has yet to file a lawsuit against the Daily Beast.
Photo of Trump With Topless Woman
The Story: Jeremy Frommer, a hedge-fund manager turned entrepreneur, purchased the estate of Penthouse founder Bob Guccione in 2012. During the 2016 campaign Frommer recalled seeing photos of Trump autographing a woman’s bare breasts, and decided to contact Trump’s office about the images.
Cohen’s Role: Frommer said he was put in touch with Cohen, and during their initial phone call he threatened to take him down:
His foul mouthed rampage began immediately. He said he would sue me if we published the pictures, and mumbled about numerous other threats for several minutes before I was put on the phone with him. He continued to rage but eventually said the pictures were already “out there” and they weren’t a big deal.
Frommer told the New York Times that when David J. Pecker, Trump’s friend and chairman of the tabloid publisher American Media Inc., came up during the call, Cohen began to calm down. They agreed that Frommer would take the photos to Pecker, and began discussing potential business deals between their three companies, such as a Trump interview that would run in Pecker’s tabloid’s and Frommer’s Jerrick Media.
An American Media Inc. executive told the Times that negotiations between Frommer and AMI were initially meant to set up a “catch and kill,” meaning Pecker’s company would purchase the photos then kill the story to protect Trump. Despite further intervention from Cohen, the negotiations fell apart, and Frommer wound up posting the photos online himself.
Doorman’s Tale of Trump’s Love Child
The Story: Dino Sajudin, a former doorman of a Trump building, offered the National Enquirer a tip: back in the ‘80s, Trump may have fathered a child out of wedlock with a former employee. The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow reported last week that the alleged daughter denies the story, and the magazine “has uncovered no evidence that Trump fathered the child.”
Cohen’s Role: Enquirer reporters pursued the story for several weeks in late 2015, and Sajudin passed a polygraph test. A week later he signed an agreement with the magazine: he would be paid $30,000 for the exclusive rights to his story, and would face a $1 million penalty if he shopped the information to another publication. Four longtime Enquirer staffers told the AP that they were then ordered to stop pursuing the story.
Cohen told the AP he discussed the story with the Enquirer when its reporters were looking into it, but said he was working as Trump’s spokesperson and knew nothing about the payment. Sources told The New Yorker that they believe his involvement went deeper:
Two of the former A.M.I. employees said they believed that Cohen was in close contact with A.M.I. executives while the company’s reporters were looking into Sajudin’s story, as Cohen had been during other investigations related to Trump. “Cohen was kept up to date on a regular basis,” one source said.
Trump’s Alleged Affair With Karen McDougal
The Story: Former Playboy model Karen McDougal claims she had a ten-month affair with Trump from 2006 to 2007. During that time Trump’s wife Melania was pregnant with their son Barron. McDougal says Trump initially offered her money for sex, but she declined and they were together “many dozens of times.”
Cohen’s Role: In August 2016, American Media Inc. paid McDougal $150,000 for the exclusive rights to her story about her affair with Trump, then never ran it. Part of the agreement involved McDougal penning fitness columns and posing for AMI publications, but that went largely unfulfilled. The publisher claims it didn’t publish McDougal’s story because it wasn’t credible, denying that it was another “catch and kill.”
AMI said it contacted Cohen in an attempt to corroborate McDougal’s allegations, but the New York Times reported that he was in communication with McDougal’s attorney, Keith Davidson, during negotiations with the publisher:
Soon after Ms. McDougal signed the confidential agreement on Aug. 5, 2016, Mr. Davidson emailed Mr. Cohen, “Michael, please give me a call at your convenience.” Mr. Davidson followed up by explaining to Mr. Cohen over the phone that the McDougal transaction had been completed, according to a person familiar with the conversation. Mr. Cohen said, “I don’t recall those communications.”
The Access Hollywood Tape
The Story: On October 7, 2016, the Washington Post published the infamous footage of Trump bragging about sexual assault to Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush, saying, “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”
Cohen’s Role: The nature of Cohen’s involvement is still unknown, but the New York Times reported that the FBI agents who raided Cohen’s office and hotel last week were seeking information related to the Access Hollywood tape, raising questions about whether he was involved in efforts to keep the tape from being released, or dealing with the fallout.
Trump’s Alleged Affair With Stormy Daniels
The Story: Porn star Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, claims that she had sex with Trump during a July 2006 golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, shortly after Melania gave birth to Barron. Daniels has vividly described her night with Trump, which she says included spanking him with a magazine featuring him and his adult children on the cover.
Daniels says Trump told her he wanted to put her on Celebrity Apprentice, and they stayed in touch through 2010. She claims they only had one other in-person meeting, in which Trump watched Shark Week for hours and told her he couldn’t put her on the show.
Cohen’s Role: Daniels shared her story with a sister publication of In Touch magazine in May 2011, and was paid $15,000. On a recent 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper reported that “two former employees of the magazine told us the story never ran because after the magazine called Mr. Trump seeking comment, his attorney Michael Cohen threatened to sue.”
Daniels claims that a man threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot several weeks later, telling her “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story,” and remarking in front of her infant daughter, “It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.”
Following the publication of the Access Hollywood tape, Daniels began shopping her story to several publications. She said Cohen reached out and offered to pay her $130,000 not to talk about her relationship with Trump, and she agreed.
Daniels and Cohen signed the nondisclosure agreement days before the October 2016 election. Cohen created the Delaware company Essential Consultants LLC to make the payment to Daniels. He claims he paid Daniels out of his own pocket, and said through his lawyer that he negotiated the deal without Trump’s knowledge.
Daniels claims that after the Wall Street Journal revealed the hush agreement’s existence in January 2018, Cohen pressured her into releasing false statements denying the affair.
Cohen and Daniels are now engaged in a legal battle. She claims the agreement is void because Trump never signed it, and Cohen violated it by discussing the matter publicly. He obtained a via temporary restraining order from an arbitrator that bars Daniels from disclosing any information, and claims she could owe $20 million for repeatedly violating the hush agreement.
Republican Fundraiser Impregnates Playboy Model
The Story: Elliott Broidy, a deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, negotiated a deal in late 2017 to pay Playboy model Shera Bechard $1.6 million after she became pregnant during their affair and terminated the pregnancy. After the Wall Street Journal broke the story last week, Broidy resigned from his position at the RNC and said in a statement: “At the end of our relationship, this woman shared with me that she was pregnant. She alone decided that she did not want to continue with the pregnancy and I offered to help her financially during this difficult period.”
Cohen’s Role: Cohen negotiated the deal prohibiting Bechard from discussing her relationship with Broidy, and arranged for her to be paid $1.6 million in quarterly installments over the next two years. The nondisclosure agreement is very similar to the deal Cohen struck with Stormy Daniels. Per the Journal:
The Broidy agreement uses the same pseudonyms for Mr. Broidy and Ms. Bechard — David Dennison and Peggy Peterson — as the earlier agreement used for Mr. Trump and Ms. Clifford, respectively, the person familiar with the matter said. Both agreements had separate side letters that listed the real names of the parties, this person said.
In the Broidy agreement, Mr. Cohen, who represented Mr. Broidy, is referred to as Dennis Donohue; Mr. Davidson, the Los Angeles lawyer who represented Ms. Bechard, is referred to as Paul Patterson, according to the person familiar with the matter.
Mr. Davidson also represented Ms. Clifford in her deal with Mr. Cohen less than two weeks before the 2016 election. He negotiated a $150,000 payment in August 2016 for Karen McDougal, another former Playboy model, from American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, for the rights to her story of an affair with Mr. Trump.
Bechard was represented by L.A.-based attorney Keith Davidson, who also represented Daniels in the deal she struck with Cohen, and negotiated American Media Inc.’s payment to McDougal. The Journal said Cohen charged Broidy $250,000 for negotiating the deal, and he paid the first installment of $62,500 to Essential Consultants LLC — the Delaware company Cohen first set up to pay Daniels. After the LLC’s purpose was revealed earlier this year, Broidy paid the rest of the fees, totaling $187,500, directly to Cohen.
7:24 am
Every Embarrassing Story Michael Cohen Tried to Squash
By
Margaret Hartmann
@MargHartmann
Michael Cohen, President Trump’s longtime personal attorney, has proudly described himself as his “family fix-it guy,” but now federal prosecutors are looking into whether his efforts to protect his beloved boss were part of a pattern of illegal behavior.
The raid of Cohen’s home, office, and hotel room last week reportedly sought information on his payment to porn star Stormy Daniels, and his connection to tabloid publisher American Media Inc.’s payment to former Playmate Karen McDougal, both of whom claim they had an affair with Trump. Steve Bannon was quoted as saying Trump’s attorneys “took care of” a hundred similar claims during the campaign.
So far, we’ve learned of fewer than a dozen incidents in which Cohen allegedly covered up negative Trump-related press using deals, lawsuits, or threats. Here are all the scandals that became public anyway, and what they reveal about Cohen’s tactics.
Beauty Contestant Claims Pageant Is Rigged
The Story: A day after competing in the 2012 Miss USA pageant, Miss Pennsylvania Sheena Monnin resigned her title, claiming in a Facebook post that the competition was rigged. She wrote:
I witnessed another contestant who said she saw the list of the Top 5 (contestants) BEFORE THE SHOW EVER STARTED proceed to call out in order who the Top 5 were before they were announced on stage…After it was indeed the Top 5 I knew the show must be rigged; I decided at that moment to distance myself from an organization who did not allow fair play and whose morals did not match my own.
Cohen’s Role: Cohen called into TMZ and said Monnin had 24 hours to retract her claim, or she would be hit with a defamation suit seeking “massive damages.” In accordance with the terms of the contract she signed with the Miss USA Organization, Trump’s attorneys submitted a claim for arbitration without notifying Monnin. By the time she realized what was happening (she later settled a malpractice claim against her attorney) it was too late to defend herself, and she was hit with a $5 million defamation penalty. She reportedly negotiated that down to $1 million, and the judgement was satisfied in 2014.
Her father, Philip Monnin, told The Daily Beast that he had two phone calls with Cohen in 2013, in which the attorney engaged in “bullying tactics and intimidation.”
“He threw a fit on the phone,” Philip Monnin said of the second call. “He basically said if I went along with my daughter I was an idiot. And said that she should apologize and if she didn’t want to, then ‘Game on,’ and he slammed the phone down. And that was the end of the conversation.”
Don Jr.’s Alleged Affair With Aubrey O’Day
The Story: Donald Trump Jr., who was a judge on Celebrity Apprentice, reportedly had an affair with singer/contestant Aubrey O’Day. News of the affair broke last month when Trump Jr.’s wife filed for divorce.
Cohen’s Role: Us Weekly was ready to expose the story in 2013, but Cohen reportedly killed it by threatening the tabloid’s reporters. The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday:
The magazine, then owned by Wenner Media, had what staffers believed to be a solid source on the alleged affair by the younger Mr. Trump and called the Trump Organization for comment, according to the people involved in the matter. They received a call back from Mr. Cohen, who threatened legal action and became so irate that they muted the call while he spoke, one of these people said.
“We were all on speakerphone and huddled around the phone,” this person said. “He was just one of these New York characters where he was just like swearing at us and totally over-the-top threatening.”
The magazine reportedly decided the story wasn’t worth a legal fight, especially because it had a good relationship with the Trump family on Apprentice-related stories.
Ivana Trump’s Rape Allegation
The Story: In July 2015, the Daily Beast reported that Trump’s first wife Ivana accused him of raping her in a deposition taken during their ‘90s divorce case. When Ivana’s description of the incident was about to be revealed in the 1993 book Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump, Trump and his lawyers had a statement inserted into the book in which Ivana said her words should not be interpreted “in a literal or criminal sense.”
Cohen’s Role: Cohen tried to prevent the Daily Beast from running the story, first by arguing, falsely, that marital rape is legal, and then by threatening a lawsuit.
“I will make sure that you and I meet one day while we’re in the courthouse. And I will take you for every penny you still don’t have. And I will come after your Daily Beast and everybody else that you possibly know,” Cohen told a reporter. “So I’m warning you, tread very fucking lightly, because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. You understand me?”
Trump has yet to file a lawsuit against the Daily Beast.
Photo of Trump With Topless Woman
The Story: Jeremy Frommer, a hedge-fund manager turned entrepreneur, purchased the estate of Penthouse founder Bob Guccione in 2012. During the 2016 campaign Frommer recalled seeing photos of Trump autographing a woman’s bare breasts, and decided to contact Trump’s office about the images.
Cohen’s Role: Frommer said he was put in touch with Cohen, and during their initial phone call he threatened to take him down:
His foul mouthed rampage began immediately. He said he would sue me if we published the pictures, and mumbled about numerous other threats for several minutes before I was put on the phone with him. He continued to rage but eventually said the pictures were already “out there” and they weren’t a big deal.
Frommer told the New York Times that when David J. Pecker, Trump’s friend and chairman of the tabloid publisher American Media Inc., came up during the call, Cohen began to calm down. They agreed that Frommer would take the photos to Pecker, and began discussing potential business deals between their three companies, such as a Trump interview that would run in Pecker’s tabloid’s and Frommer’s Jerrick Media.
An American Media Inc. executive told the Times that negotiations between Frommer and AMI were initially meant to set up a “catch and kill,” meaning Pecker’s company would purchase the photos then kill the story to protect Trump. Despite further intervention from Cohen, the negotiations fell apart, and Frommer wound up posting the photos online himself.
Doorman’s Tale of Trump’s Love Child
The Story: Dino Sajudin, a former doorman of a Trump building, offered the National Enquirer a tip: back in the ‘80s, Trump may have fathered a child out of wedlock with a former employee. The New Yorker’s Ronan Farrow reported last week that the alleged daughter denies the story, and the magazine “has uncovered no evidence that Trump fathered the child.”
Cohen’s Role: Enquirer reporters pursued the story for several weeks in late 2015, and Sajudin passed a polygraph test. A week later he signed an agreement with the magazine: he would be paid $30,000 for the exclusive rights to his story, and would face a $1 million penalty if he shopped the information to another publication. Four longtime Enquirer staffers told the AP that they were then ordered to stop pursuing the story.
Cohen told the AP he discussed the story with the Enquirer when its reporters were looking into it, but said he was working as Trump’s spokesperson and knew nothing about the payment. Sources told The New Yorker that they believe his involvement went deeper:
Two of the former A.M.I. employees said they believed that Cohen was in close contact with A.M.I. executives while the company’s reporters were looking into Sajudin’s story, as Cohen had been during other investigations related to Trump. “Cohen was kept up to date on a regular basis,” one source said.
Trump’s Alleged Affair With Karen McDougal
The Story: Former Playboy model Karen McDougal claims she had a ten-month affair with Trump from 2006 to 2007. During that time Trump’s wife Melania was pregnant with their son Barron. McDougal says Trump initially offered her money for sex, but she declined and they were together “many dozens of times.”
Cohen’s Role: In August 2016, American Media Inc. paid McDougal $150,000 for the exclusive rights to her story about her affair with Trump, then never ran it. Part of the agreement involved McDougal penning fitness columns and posing for AMI publications, but that went largely unfulfilled. The publisher claims it didn’t publish McDougal’s story because it wasn’t credible, denying that it was another “catch and kill.”
AMI said it contacted Cohen in an attempt to corroborate McDougal’s allegations, but the New York Times reported that he was in communication with McDougal’s attorney, Keith Davidson, during negotiations with the publisher:
Soon after Ms. McDougal signed the confidential agreement on Aug. 5, 2016, Mr. Davidson emailed Mr. Cohen, “Michael, please give me a call at your convenience.” Mr. Davidson followed up by explaining to Mr. Cohen over the phone that the McDougal transaction had been completed, according to a person familiar with the conversation. Mr. Cohen said, “I don’t recall those communications.”
The Access Hollywood Tape
The Story: On October 7, 2016, the Washington Post published the infamous footage of Trump bragging about sexual assault to Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush, saying, “I don’t even wait. And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the pussy. You can do anything.”
Cohen’s Role: The nature of Cohen’s involvement is still unknown, but the New York Times reported that the FBI agents who raided Cohen’s office and hotel last week were seeking information related to the Access Hollywood tape, raising questions about whether he was involved in efforts to keep the tape from being released, or dealing with the fallout.
Trump’s Alleged Affair With Stormy Daniels
The Story: Porn star Stormy Daniels, real name Stephanie Clifford, claims that she had sex with Trump during a July 2006 golf tournament in Lake Tahoe, shortly after Melania gave birth to Barron. Daniels has vividly described her night with Trump, which she says included spanking him with a magazine featuring him and his adult children on the cover.
Daniels says Trump told her he wanted to put her on Celebrity Apprentice, and they stayed in touch through 2010. She claims they only had one other in-person meeting, in which Trump watched Shark Week for hours and told her he couldn’t put her on the show.
Cohen’s Role: Daniels shared her story with a sister publication of In Touch magazine in May 2011, and was paid $15,000. On a recent 60 Minutes, Anderson Cooper reported that “two former employees of the magazine told us the story never ran because after the magazine called Mr. Trump seeking comment, his attorney Michael Cohen threatened to sue.”
Daniels claims that a man threatened her in a Las Vegas parking lot several weeks later, telling her “Leave Trump alone. Forget the story,” and remarking in front of her infant daughter, “It’d be a shame if something happened to her mom.”
Following the publication of the Access Hollywood tape, Daniels began shopping her story to several publications. She said Cohen reached out and offered to pay her $130,000 not to talk about her relationship with Trump, and she agreed.
Daniels and Cohen signed the nondisclosure agreement days before the October 2016 election. Cohen created the Delaware company Essential Consultants LLC to make the payment to Daniels. He claims he paid Daniels out of his own pocket, and said through his lawyer that he negotiated the deal without Trump’s knowledge.
Daniels claims that after the Wall Street Journal revealed the hush agreement’s existence in January 2018, Cohen pressured her into releasing false statements denying the affair.
Cohen and Daniels are now engaged in a legal battle. She claims the agreement is void because Trump never signed it, and Cohen violated it by discussing the matter publicly. He obtained a via temporary restraining order from an arbitrator that bars Daniels from disclosing any information, and claims she could owe $20 million for repeatedly violating the hush agreement.
Republican Fundraiser Impregnates Playboy Model
The Story: Elliott Broidy, a deputy finance chairman of the Republican National Committee, negotiated a deal in late 2017 to pay Playboy model Shera Bechard $1.6 million after she became pregnant during their affair and terminated the pregnancy. After the Wall Street Journal broke the story last week, Broidy resigned from his position at the RNC and said in a statement: “At the end of our relationship, this woman shared with me that she was pregnant. She alone decided that she did not want to continue with the pregnancy and I offered to help her financially during this difficult period.”
Cohen’s Role: Cohen negotiated the deal prohibiting Bechard from discussing her relationship with Broidy, and arranged for her to be paid $1.6 million in quarterly installments over the next two years. The nondisclosure agreement is very similar to the deal Cohen struck with Stormy Daniels. Per the Journal:
The Broidy agreement uses the same pseudonyms for Mr. Broidy and Ms. Bechard — David Dennison and Peggy Peterson — as the earlier agreement used for Mr. Trump and Ms. Clifford, respectively, the person familiar with the matter said. Both agreements had separate side letters that listed the real names of the parties, this person said.
In the Broidy agreement, Mr. Cohen, who represented Mr. Broidy, is referred to as Dennis Donohue; Mr. Davidson, the Los Angeles lawyer who represented Ms. Bechard, is referred to as Paul Patterson, according to the person familiar with the matter.
Mr. Davidson also represented Ms. Clifford in her deal with Mr. Cohen less than two weeks before the 2016 election. He negotiated a $150,000 payment in August 2016 for Karen McDougal, another former Playboy model, from American Media Inc., the publisher of the National Enquirer, for the rights to her story of an affair with Mr. Trump.
Bechard was represented by L.A.-based attorney Keith Davidson, who also represented Daniels in the deal she struck with Cohen, and negotiated American Media Inc.’s payment to McDougal. The Journal said Cohen charged Broidy $250,000 for negotiating the deal, and he paid the first installment of $62,500 to Essential Consultants LLC — the Delaware company Cohen first set up to pay Daniels. After the LLC’s purpose was revealed earlier this year, Broidy paid the rest of the fees, totaling $187,500, directly to Cohen.
'Promises were made': Daniel Andrews made secret deal, says firefighters union boss - The Age
'Promises were made': Daniel Andrews made secret deal, says firefighters union boss
By Adam Carey & Noel Towell18 April 2018 — 7:40pm
Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size
Premier Daniel Andrews made secret promises to the firefighters' union "in the heat of a political moment", says the powerful secretary of Victoria's firefighters union, who warned that “the truth will come out” before the next election.
In an incendiary interview on ABC Melbourne, union secretary Peter Marshall has accused Premier Daniel Andrews and Deputy Premier James Merlino of lying to him by appointing British fire chief Dan Stephens as the new head of the fire services.
Peter Marshall, State Secretary of United Fire Fighters Union.
Peter Marshall, State Secretary of United Fire Fighters Union.
Photo: Angela Wylie
Mr Marshall also declined to rule out rumours that he has a compromising tape of Mr Andrews.
“You’d have to ask Dan Andrews that, not me,” he told the ABC’s Raf Epstein.
“The truth will come out about Daniel Andrews and James Merlino’s role in this and exactly why they’ve chosen to engage in an extremely provocative appointment,” Mr Marshall said.
Advertisement
“There was a number of promises and they will come out in the near future … there were discussions which will come out in the near future.”
Asked if there was any deal with the firefighters' union or if the Premier was aware of any recording, a government spokesman said no.
The firebrand union chief earlier accused the government of shattering the faith that firefighters put in the Andrews government.
In a bulletin issued to United Firefighters Union members on Wednesday, Mr Marshall said the union had been assured it would be consulted prior to the appointment of the next chief of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.
“The UFU was not consulted and is yet to be officially informed that Mr Stephens has been appointed,” the bulletin said.
Mr Marshall said the man chosen for the MFB's top job, Englishman Dan Stephens, had a “union-busting, budget-breaking” track record in his previous job as Mersey Fire Brigade chief in the northern English city of Liverpool, and had presided over savage cuts to firefighter numbers in the city.
Dan Stephens is Melbourne's new fire chief.
Mr Marshall also alleged that fire deaths in the Liverpool area had doubled during Mr Stephen’s tenure.
But the Liverpool Echo newspaper reported this week Mr Stephens was known for his fierce opposition to government-imposed budget cuts.
And both the MFB and Emergency Services Minister James Merlino said on Wednesday that their new man had a strong record of advocating for his workforces.
MFB board president Jasmine Doak said Mr Stephens had a wealth of experience in firefighting, emergency services and with unions.
"Dan has a great relationship with the [Fire Brigades Union] in the UK at the moment, he works in a unionised workforce and he knows how important that is," Ms Doak said.
"He will build all the relationships he needs once he gets here."
Mr Marshall, who will gather his members on Monday for a large meeting to discuss the new appointment, indicated the new chief officer might have a challenge on his hands, with the union leader telling his members that Mr Stephens was bad news for Melbourne firefighters.
“The UFU has serious concerns about the appropriateness of the appointment as we do not want to import the British fire services culture of forfeiting safe working conditions and firefighter positions for pecuniary purposes,” the union leader wrote in his bulletin.
Mr Marshall earlier had a clear warning to the Andrews’ government that there was trouble coming if it persisted with hiring Mr Stephens.
“We are surprised that a Labor Andrews government would support the appointment of Mr Stephens who has reportedly been party to union-busting tactics,” Mr Marshall wrote.
“This is a low point for union relations with the Andrews government and will be a defining moment in the short and long-term relationship.”
But Mr Merlino said Mr Stephens had been a fighter for the rights of the workforce on the Mersey brigade.
“Mr Stephens is ... a strong advocate for the rights of firefighters, improving the safety of the community and fighting against government budget cuts in his role at the helm of the Merseyside Fire Rescue Service," the minister said.
“We have always been determined that a wide-ranging search would be undertaken to find the best possible candidate for this important role.
"A key part of Mr Stephen's role will be to rebuild the relationship between management and the MFB workforce."
Share on Facebook
By Adam Carey & Noel Towell18 April 2018 — 7:40pm
Normal text sizeLarger text sizeVery large text size
Premier Daniel Andrews made secret promises to the firefighters' union "in the heat of a political moment", says the powerful secretary of Victoria's firefighters union, who warned that “the truth will come out” before the next election.
In an incendiary interview on ABC Melbourne, union secretary Peter Marshall has accused Premier Daniel Andrews and Deputy Premier James Merlino of lying to him by appointing British fire chief Dan Stephens as the new head of the fire services.
Peter Marshall, State Secretary of United Fire Fighters Union.
Peter Marshall, State Secretary of United Fire Fighters Union.
Photo: Angela Wylie
Mr Marshall also declined to rule out rumours that he has a compromising tape of Mr Andrews.
“You’d have to ask Dan Andrews that, not me,” he told the ABC’s Raf Epstein.
“The truth will come out about Daniel Andrews and James Merlino’s role in this and exactly why they’ve chosen to engage in an extremely provocative appointment,” Mr Marshall said.
Advertisement
“There was a number of promises and they will come out in the near future … there were discussions which will come out in the near future.”
Asked if there was any deal with the firefighters' union or if the Premier was aware of any recording, a government spokesman said no.
The firebrand union chief earlier accused the government of shattering the faith that firefighters put in the Andrews government.
In a bulletin issued to United Firefighters Union members on Wednesday, Mr Marshall said the union had been assured it would be consulted prior to the appointment of the next chief of the Metropolitan Fire Brigade.
“The UFU was not consulted and is yet to be officially informed that Mr Stephens has been appointed,” the bulletin said.
Mr Marshall said the man chosen for the MFB's top job, Englishman Dan Stephens, had a “union-busting, budget-breaking” track record in his previous job as Mersey Fire Brigade chief in the northern English city of Liverpool, and had presided over savage cuts to firefighter numbers in the city.
Dan Stephens is Melbourne's new fire chief.
Mr Marshall also alleged that fire deaths in the Liverpool area had doubled during Mr Stephen’s tenure.
But the Liverpool Echo newspaper reported this week Mr Stephens was known for his fierce opposition to government-imposed budget cuts.
And both the MFB and Emergency Services Minister James Merlino said on Wednesday that their new man had a strong record of advocating for his workforces.
MFB board president Jasmine Doak said Mr Stephens had a wealth of experience in firefighting, emergency services and with unions.
"Dan has a great relationship with the [Fire Brigades Union] in the UK at the moment, he works in a unionised workforce and he knows how important that is," Ms Doak said.
"He will build all the relationships he needs once he gets here."
Mr Marshall, who will gather his members on Monday for a large meeting to discuss the new appointment, indicated the new chief officer might have a challenge on his hands, with the union leader telling his members that Mr Stephens was bad news for Melbourne firefighters.
“The UFU has serious concerns about the appropriateness of the appointment as we do not want to import the British fire services culture of forfeiting safe working conditions and firefighter positions for pecuniary purposes,” the union leader wrote in his bulletin.
Mr Marshall earlier had a clear warning to the Andrews’ government that there was trouble coming if it persisted with hiring Mr Stephens.
“We are surprised that a Labor Andrews government would support the appointment of Mr Stephens who has reportedly been party to union-busting tactics,” Mr Marshall wrote.
“This is a low point for union relations with the Andrews government and will be a defining moment in the short and long-term relationship.”
But Mr Merlino said Mr Stephens had been a fighter for the rights of the workforce on the Mersey brigade.
“Mr Stephens is ... a strong advocate for the rights of firefighters, improving the safety of the community and fighting against government budget cuts in his role at the helm of the Merseyside Fire Rescue Service," the minister said.
“We have always been determined that a wide-ranging search would be undertaken to find the best possible candidate for this important role.
"A key part of Mr Stephen's role will be to rebuild the relationship between management and the MFB workforce."
Share on Facebook
Starbucks to close all US stores for racial bias training - Financial Times
April 17, 2018
Starbucks to close all US stores for racial bias training
Session for 175,000 staff comes after arrest of two black men at Philadelphia store
Starbucks’ ‘Race Together’ campaign in 2015 was an effort to spur a discussion about race, after the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri © AP
Jennifer Bissell-Linsk, Jessica Dye and Anna Nicolaou in New York 14 HOURS AGO Print this page65
Starbucks plans to shut more than 8,000 of its US stores on the afternoon of May 29 to conduct racial-bias education for its employees, as the company grapples with the backlash over the arrest of two black men at one of its Philadelphia stores.
The move comes as Starbucks, which has prided itself as a champion of progressive values, has been slammed by activists for failing to respond adequately to the incident — in which a barista called the police after two black men sat at a table without ordering. The men were arrested for trespassing.
Starbucks said the training would be provided to nearly 175,000 employees across the US and is aimed at preventing discrimination in its stores. The programme will also be part of the training process for all new hires.
The scandal is one of the first big tests for Kevin Johnson, chief executive, who took over from Howard Schultz last year and has looked to maintain the coffee giant’s brand with consumers.
This one day is great. But what else are they going to do to make sure it never happens again?
Former Starbucks barista
Mr Johnson said on Tuesday: “I’ve spent the last few days in Philadelphia with my leadership team listening to the community, learning what we did wrong and the steps we need to take to fix it. While this is not limited to Starbucks, we’re committed to being a part of the solution.”
Speaking separately on CNN, Mr Johnson said: “It’s an emotional learning experience and I take it personally . . . I’m going to fix it.”
The incident has sparked outrage on social media, inspiring a #boycottstarbucks hashtag on Twitter. Kevin Hart, the black comedian and actor, on Monday called out Mr Johnson for not taking the incident seriously enough in an interview with Good Morning America.
“This really makes me sad . . . Starbucks had a platform and a real opportunity [on Good Morning America] to fix that situation correctly by calling it exactly what it was which was racial profiling/discrimination by the on duty manager. YOU FAILED,” he wrote on Twitter.
Arness Sanders, a supervisor at Gregorys Coffee in New York and a former Starbucks barista, said he was surprised at the incident in Philadelphia and never would have called the police on a potential customer.
“It’s extreme, I wouldn’t have thought that is the best route,” he said, referring back to previous diversity trainings he had at Starbucks. “Values are lost over time. But this one-day [training] should re-establish prior values.”
As a black man, Mr Sanders said he hoped the company would stress awareness of unconscious bias more in its training, saying he doubted the police would have been called on anyone except a black man.
“This one day is great,” he added. “But what else are they going to do to make sure it never happens again?”
Starbucks said that the training programme would “address implicit bias, promote conscious inclusion, prevent discrimination and ensure everyone inside a Starbucks store feels safe and welcome”.
Carreen Winters, chief strategy officer at MWWPR, a public affairs agency, said the announcement of the company-wide shutdown should help reinforce Starbucks’ reputation.
“Chipotle closed all of its stores for food safety training in the wake of serious health issues. Starbucks is signalling that racism is as important as food safety.”
The coffee chain, under Mr Schultz, has for years looked to fight for social justice issues — but has misfired over race and marketing in the past. Starbucks in 2015 attached “Race Together” stickers to customers’ cups in an effort to spur a discussion about race, following the shooting of an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri.
The strategy was met with a backlash on social media, with users suggesting faux slogans for the chain such as: “Some of my best friends are black coffee” and “tea shall overcome”.
Shares in Starbucks were up 0.7 per cent on Tuesday.
Additional reporting by Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson
Hammerson Pulls Intu Bid as Shareholder Pressure Prompts U-Turn - Bloomberg
Hammerson Pulls Intu Bid as Shareholder Pressure Prompts U-Turn
By Jack Sidders and Ross Larsen
April 18, 2018, 4:20 PM GMT+10 Updated on April 18, 2018, 6:44 PM GMT+10
U.K. retail property seen by market as having heightened risk
Some shareholders expressed concern about the deal last week
Hammerson Plc withdrew its 3.2 billion-pound ($4.6 billion) offer to buy Intu Properties Plc after a growing number of its shareholders opposed a deal that would have created the U.K.’s biggest shopping-mall owner.
Hammerson’s initial all-share offer had come as mall owners try to combine to cut costs and focus on premium properties while U.K. consumers endure a year-long squeeze on living standards. That’s contributed to a string of retailers and restaurant groups announcing plans to close stores, slow openings or reduce their rent bills.
“With retail profit warnings at seven-year highs, any deal is likely to be extremely high-risk,” CMC Markets Plc analyst Michael Hewson wrote in a note. “Why double up on retail property when stores are closing and rental income is under threat.”
Intu fell the most since June 2016 and was down 4.6 percent to 198.8 pence at 9:40 a.m. in London trading. Hammerson rose as much as 6 percent, the most in almost a month.
APG Asset Management -- Hammerson’s third-largest shareholder -- said on Friday it would vote against the Intu purchase, citing the pressures on the U.K. retail industry and increased financial leverage. A top-15 shareholder also expressed concerns about the purchase, Bloomberg News reported last week.
Increased Risks
“The equity market now perceives a heightened level of risk associated with the U.K. retail property sector,” Hammerson said in a statement on Wednesday. “Heightened risks associated with the Intu acquisition outweigh the long-term rewards.”
Intu said the explanations for dropping the bid are “unsatisfactory.” Hammerson’s plan was thrown off course when Paris-based landlord Klepierre SA made a separate offer for Hammerson. Those talks ended last week without a deal, meaning the French firm can’t return to the table for six months.
“A suitor could also pursue Intu now that it’s more vulnerable,” Green Street Advisors LLC analyst Hemant Kotak said by email. It is also “entirely possible” that Klepierre could make a new approach for Hammerson in six months, he said.
Before news broke of Klepierre’s bid last month, Hammerson had slumped about 20 percent this year as the worsening retail environment led to concerns that it could damp demand for space in malls.
’Major Blow’
“Hammerson’s withdrawal is a major blow for Intu,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sue Munden wrote in a note. “Faced with online disruption to sales, Intu’s planned investment to upgrade malls may be too slow to move the needle much on net rental income and earnings through 2020.”
Intu, whose malls are less prime than Hammerson’s, this week reported that its prime shopping centers had seen record demand and increased rents in the first quarter compared with a year earlier. The firm had released its trading statement early to try and reassure investors that its best properties were performing strongly.
By Jack Sidders and Ross Larsen
April 18, 2018, 4:20 PM GMT+10 Updated on April 18, 2018, 6:44 PM GMT+10
U.K. retail property seen by market as having heightened risk
Some shareholders expressed concern about the deal last week
Hammerson Plc withdrew its 3.2 billion-pound ($4.6 billion) offer to buy Intu Properties Plc after a growing number of its shareholders opposed a deal that would have created the U.K.’s biggest shopping-mall owner.
Hammerson’s initial all-share offer had come as mall owners try to combine to cut costs and focus on premium properties while U.K. consumers endure a year-long squeeze on living standards. That’s contributed to a string of retailers and restaurant groups announcing plans to close stores, slow openings or reduce their rent bills.
“With retail profit warnings at seven-year highs, any deal is likely to be extremely high-risk,” CMC Markets Plc analyst Michael Hewson wrote in a note. “Why double up on retail property when stores are closing and rental income is under threat.”
Intu fell the most since June 2016 and was down 4.6 percent to 198.8 pence at 9:40 a.m. in London trading. Hammerson rose as much as 6 percent, the most in almost a month.
APG Asset Management -- Hammerson’s third-largest shareholder -- said on Friday it would vote against the Intu purchase, citing the pressures on the U.K. retail industry and increased financial leverage. A top-15 shareholder also expressed concerns about the purchase, Bloomberg News reported last week.
Increased Risks
“The equity market now perceives a heightened level of risk associated with the U.K. retail property sector,” Hammerson said in a statement on Wednesday. “Heightened risks associated with the Intu acquisition outweigh the long-term rewards.”
Intu said the explanations for dropping the bid are “unsatisfactory.” Hammerson’s plan was thrown off course when Paris-based landlord Klepierre SA made a separate offer for Hammerson. Those talks ended last week without a deal, meaning the French firm can’t return to the table for six months.
“A suitor could also pursue Intu now that it’s more vulnerable,” Green Street Advisors LLC analyst Hemant Kotak said by email. It is also “entirely possible” that Klepierre could make a new approach for Hammerson in six months, he said.
Before news broke of Klepierre’s bid last month, Hammerson had slumped about 20 percent this year as the worsening retail environment led to concerns that it could damp demand for space in malls.
’Major Blow’
“Hammerson’s withdrawal is a major blow for Intu,” Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Sue Munden wrote in a note. “Faced with online disruption to sales, Intu’s planned investment to upgrade malls may be too slow to move the needle much on net rental income and earnings through 2020.”
Intu, whose malls are less prime than Hammerson’s, this week reported that its prime shopping centers had seen record demand and increased rents in the first quarter compared with a year earlier. The firm had released its trading statement early to try and reassure investors that its best properties were performing strongly.
'Confused' UN envoy Nikki Haley hits back at White House - BBC News
April 18, 2018
'Confused' UN envoy Nikki Haley hits back at White House
Nikki Haley is a major figure in US foreign policy
US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has fired back after a White House aide accused her of "momentary confusion" over new sanctions against Russia.
"With all due respect, I don't get confused," Ms Haley told Fox News television.
She was responding to comments by White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow.
On Sunday Ms Haley said the US was preparing new sanctions against Russian firms. But the White House later said no such action had yet been decided.
In her initial remarks, made on CBS television, Ms Haley said the fresh measures would target "any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad and chemical weapons use".
She said, the new sanctions would send a "strong message" to Russian leaders.
Trumplomacy in a dangerous world
Syria 'chemical attack': What we know
The statement angered President Donald Trump, The New York Times reported. The spat became public on Tuesday, when Mr Kudlow sought to clarify the administration's position on the sanctions.
He said Ms Haley was "doing a great job", adding: "There might have been some momentary confusion about that. I think the issue here is we have a set of sanctions and additional sanctions are under consideration but have not been determined."
How attacks on suspected chemical weapons sites unfolded
After Ms Haley denied being "confused", in an interview hours later, Mr Kudlow called her to apologise, the New York Times reported.
"I was wrong to say that," he told the newspaper. "She was basically following what she thought was policy. The policy was changed and she wasn't told about it, so she was in a box."
However observers say the exchange has highlighted rifts within the Trump team.
Ms Haley is regarded as a major foreign policy figure in the administration, especially since the dismissal of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last month.
Tensions between Russia and Western countries have risen since the US, the UK and France carried out strikes in Syria last week in response to an alleged Syrian chemical weapons attack.
Russia and Syria, its ally, insist that no chemical attack took place in the rebel-held town of Douma on 7 April.
'Confused' UN envoy Nikki Haley hits back at White House
Nikki Haley is a major figure in US foreign policy
US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley has fired back after a White House aide accused her of "momentary confusion" over new sanctions against Russia.
"With all due respect, I don't get confused," Ms Haley told Fox News television.
She was responding to comments by White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow.
On Sunday Ms Haley said the US was preparing new sanctions against Russian firms. But the White House later said no such action had yet been decided.
In her initial remarks, made on CBS television, Ms Haley said the fresh measures would target "any sort of companies that were dealing with equipment related to [Syrian President Bashar al-] Assad and chemical weapons use".
She said, the new sanctions would send a "strong message" to Russian leaders.
Trumplomacy in a dangerous world
Syria 'chemical attack': What we know
The statement angered President Donald Trump, The New York Times reported. The spat became public on Tuesday, when Mr Kudlow sought to clarify the administration's position on the sanctions.
He said Ms Haley was "doing a great job", adding: "There might have been some momentary confusion about that. I think the issue here is we have a set of sanctions and additional sanctions are under consideration but have not been determined."
How attacks on suspected chemical weapons sites unfolded
After Ms Haley denied being "confused", in an interview hours later, Mr Kudlow called her to apologise, the New York Times reported.
"I was wrong to say that," he told the newspaper. "She was basically following what she thought was policy. The policy was changed and she wasn't told about it, so she was in a box."
However observers say the exchange has highlighted rifts within the Trump team.
Ms Haley is regarded as a major foreign policy figure in the administration, especially since the dismissal of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson last month.
Tensions between Russia and Western countries have risen since the US, the UK and France carried out strikes in Syria last week in response to an alleged Syrian chemical weapons attack.
Russia and Syria, its ally, insist that no chemical attack took place in the rebel-held town of Douma on 7 April.
Mike Pompeo: CIA chief 'made secret trip to North Korea' - BBC News
April 18, 2018.
Mike Pompeo: CIA chief 'made secret trip to North Korea'
Mr Pompeo's mission reportedly was to prepare for the Trump-Kim summit
CIA director Mike Pompeo travelled to Pyongyang for a secret meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, US media report.
The meeting to prepare for direct talks between US President Donald Trump and Mr Kim took place on about 1 April, unnamed officials said.
Mr Trump had earlier alluded to high-level direct talks with Pyongyang.
But this unexpected and clandestine meeting would mark the highest level US contact with North Korea since 2000.
"We have had direct talks at... extremely high levels," Mr Trump said from Florida, where he is hosting Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
The president added that he gave his "blessing" for talks between the South and North to discuss a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-1953 Korean War.
North Korea crisis in 300 words
The political gamble of the 21st Century
South Korea has also signalled that it may pursue a formal resolution of the conflict. South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and Mr Kim are scheduled to meet at the end of April.
What do we know about the 'secret meeting'?
The news that Mr Pompeo had travelled to North Korea for a clandestine meeting with Mr Kim was first reported by The Washington Post.
The trip took place shortly after Mr Pompeo was nominated by Mr Trump to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state, two anonymous sources "with direct knowledge of the trip" told the newspaper.
Later the Reuters news agency said the report had been confirmed to them by senior officials. The White House has not commented.
Very little is known about the talks other than that they were to prepare for the forthcoming Trump-Kim summit.
Mr Pompeo is predicted to be confirmed as the top US diplomat by the Republican-controlled Senate in coming weeks.
This is despite mounting speculation that he will, unusually, fail to receive the backing of the bipartisan Senate Foreign Relations Committee following a grilling of more than five hours by the committee last week.
How do the US and North Korea communicate?
The US does not have diplomatic relations with North Korea, although diplomats have visited in the past and there are some so-called "back channels" used to communicate with Pyongyang.
Did sanctions push N Korea into US talks?
Mr Pompeo's trip was the highest level meeting with a North Korean leader since 2000 when then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met Kim Jong-il, the father of the current leader, in Pyongyang.
Media captionTrump takes credit for the success of the Winter Olympics in South Korea
In 2014, the then-head of National Intelligence James Clapper visited North Korea in a secret mission to negotiate the release of two US citizens. Mr Clapper did not meet the North Korean leader during his trip.
When and where might a summit take place?
Mr Trump stunned the international community last month by accepting Pyongyang's suggestion for direct talks. It would be unprecedented for a sitting US president to meet a North Korean leader.
He said the summit would take place either in early June or "a little before that" and that several sites were under consideration but that none of them were in the US.
Analysts have speculated that a location for talks could be the demilitarised zone between North and South Korea, Beijing, another Asian country, Europe or even a vessel in international waters.
Image copyrightAFP
North Korea has been isolated for decades because of its well-documented human rights abuses and its pursuit of nuclear weapons, in defiance of international laws and UN sanctions.
It has carried out six nuclear tests, and has missiles that it says could reach the US.
But South Korea's hosting of the Winter Olympics in February gave an unexpected window for diplomacy, and in the weeks since there have been a flurry of visits to the North from China, South Korea and now the US.
North Korea's surge of friendly visitors
The tricky task of preparing for the Trump-Kim summit
What does the timing of this news tell us?
Mr Trump's estimate that a meeting could take place in June or earlier appears to be one the administration is taking seriously.
But news of Mr Pompeo's visit is also likely to overshadow delicate talks with Japan, a key US ally and neighbour of North Korea.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders (left) was on hand for the meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Abe
There have been fears in Tokyo that Mr Trump's plans for bilateral talks could sideline Japan, and Mr Abe is currently in Florida for talks with the US leader.
Relations between the two men appeared cordial on this, the second time that Mr Trump has welcomed Mr Abe to his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Japan's worries about the Korean detente
Mr Trump insisted on Tuesday that the two countries were "very unified on the subject of North Korea", and Mr Abe praised the US president's handling of the North Korea issue.
However, observers say Mr Abe's goal for his US trip will be to persuade the US president as much as he can not to sway from the West's hard line on Pyongyang.
The Japanese prime minister has repeatedly sought to portray a close personal relationship with Mr Trump and was the first foreign leader to meet him in New York after his election victory in 2016.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
