'No' Cohen Inquiries on Net Neutrality on AT&T's Behalf, FCC Chairman Says
Source: Bloomberg News
AT&T Inc. turned to Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump’s lawyer, in the early days of the administration to find out how the new president would handle such issues as net neutrality.
But Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai said Thursday they never heard from the guy.
“No,” the Republican replied when asked at a news conference about any inquiries made by Cohen on possible changes to the commission’s Obama-era requirements that internet services treat all web content equally.
AT&T has acknowledged it hired a firm founded by Cohen, seeking “insights” on how the unorthodox candidate would govern as president after his 2016 upset win. Cohen was one of "several consultants" the Dallas-based telecom company hired for insight, according to an email sent to U.S. employees on Wednesday.
Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-10/-no-cohen-inquiries-to-fcc-on-net-neutrality-on-at-t-s-behalf
Show the emails.
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Iliyah
(25,111 posts)administration. Nada, zippo, nothing. They are ALL liars.
NastyRiffraff
(12,448 posts)Ajit Pai, who has ducked and weaved when Congress demanded answers from how he arrived at his decision to do away with net neutrality. He lied before; he is lying now.
bringthePaine
(1,806 posts)not one word from these fucks should be entertained as truth EXCEPT
A PLEA OF "GUILTY" TO CHARGES OF CAPITAL TREASON - in bed with
Russia means betrayal of every American, even the slew of those sadly
too fucking stupid to understand their own interests/citizenship
deminks
(11,526 posts)bagmen will be bagmen.
barbtries
(31,308 posts)just a drink somewhere and money changing hands. something along those lines
matt819
(10,749 posts)Cohen is a crook. He's a bagman. End of story. We already know he's not a legit consultant. Or lawyer.
There will be no official trail of any work actually done. That's the crook and bagman aspect of all of this.
How's about this? Track Cohen visits to the WH and compare those visits to dates money received. Or track his phone calls to the WH or trump directly and see if they track with the dates money received. And then track any public statements on the matters of interest to the companies who paid the bribes.
Time consuming, but not rocket science.
barbtries
(31,308 posts)i just wish it could happen already. there is a huge rot in this country and every day more damage being done. at this point i don't know if the republic will survive.
asiliveandbreathe
(8,203 posts)I, for one, think AT&T got what they wanted..nothing is done without greed..lots of $$$ to be made with net neutrality - which is anything but neutral.....
bucolic_frolic
(55,144 posts)Ollie North told us, just today, but in his skewed inner-context he meant someone else
pecosbob
(8,387 posts)
Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)
Freethinker65
(11,203 posts)Did he hear from an intermediary? Did he hear from Trump who heard about the payment from Cohen and was pleased? Did Trump send someone else to perhaps discuss it with him? Was the killing of net neutrality a "done deal" already ? (Everyone said so because of Ajit Pai's corporate loving history).
Was ATT paying to influence Trump on something else? The possible merger with Time Warner? ATT not wanting to spin off CNN?
Who the fuck cares really? Cohen and ATT admitted they were involved in scheming and paying to influence Trump (who everyone knows lacks a moral and ethical compass). Would they have given money to Cohen if they did not believe Trump could easily be influenced and bought off??? No fucking way. Everyone knew from the onset with Trump it was pay to play...might be with eye candy, might be with money, might be with Trump Property investment opportunities, might be with something as silly as a gala invitation to mingle with celebrities and entertainers that would otherwise shun him. Trump is a known narcissistic opportunist.
Hong Kong Cavalier
(4,607 posts)We know you lie. We know you've lied. We know you'll lie again.
Go stuff your head up your own ass, Pai.
turbinetree
(27,551 posts)
stuffmatters
(2,580 posts)from" Cohen. He's just the money funnel,for Putin/Trump/Repugs. Pai had no need to "hear from" Cohen , he already knew & was carrying out the plan that wildly benefits AT&T among others to eliminate the democracy of the internet.
The action of revoking net neutrality, Pai's resolute,extremely corrupted process to prevail in this all important Repug,Koch, Trump, internet provider corp nexis is not anything that Cohen need to contact anybody about. He was just the bagman for the payments.
So Republican to make up a small false premise to defend against an enormous crime It's like Trump's shit for brains idea that Cohen couldn't have been in Prague because his passport has no stamp.
onenote
(46,143 posts)If that's what ATT paid for it was a waste of money.
Pai was named to the FCC by Obama in 2012 at the recommendation of Mitch McConnell. His background, including his stint at Verizon, were no secret. He was a predictable anti-consumer, anti-regulation, pro-business republican. When the FCC voted in 2014 to conduct a proceeding to consider the adoption of net neutrality rules, he dissented vehemently. Not surprisingly, he also dissented in 2015 when the rules were adopted. It was absolutely no surprise to anyone that he made repealing those rules a priority when he became Chairman in 2017.
dreamland
(1,121 posts)It's not believable since that stopped payments after the Ajit pick. It was a payoff. They've been lobbying for years.
Found on https://ajitvpai.com/
> AT&T, Sprint, and Verizon blocked access to Google Wallet because it competed with their payment apps. (2011)
> Verizon demanded Google block tethering apps on android because it let owners avoid their $20 tethering fee. This was despite guaranteeing they wouldn't do that as part of a winning bid on an airwaves auction. They were fined $1.25million over this. (2012)
> AT&T tried to block access to FaceTime unless customers paid more money. (2012)
> Verizon stated that the only thing stopping them from favoring some content providers over other providers were the net neutrality rules in place. (2013)
beachbum bob
(10,437 posts)sure hope there is paper/money trail leading to this asshole