Qatar in the notes of a traitor | Egyptian today

The following is a verbatim translation of a group of paragraphs that came in Chapter Sixteen of the book “What Kell Cohen,” the personal attorney of President Donald Trump, “A Memoir of a Traitor” or “Disloyal: A Memoir” that may help understand the complex relationship between Qatar and the United States of America. The text is what was mentioned in the book except for the information in brackets, which is from the author of the article for the sake of clarity.

Was I financially benefiting from my relationship with Trump? Of course yes. What would you do (if you were me!)? In March 2018, I’ll give one example, I was brokering deals on the level of multi-billion dollar transactions. Let us take the example of the private dinner that I attended in Mara Lago (the resort for Trump and his clients and close friends) at that time traveling on the private plane of Ben Ashkenazi, a real estate investor who runs an investment fund for a number of billions .. And there in Palm Spring I met Franklin Hani. , Memphis businessman who was a long time Democrat but made a million dollars donation to the committee organizing the celebration of Trump’s coronation, and hired me to help with a project to build a nuclear reactor in Alabama. Hani wanted a ton of federal approvals in order to complete the project that I came in to help and guide his lawyers to grease the wheels of commerce and government.

These were the types of people who owned “super” luxury yachts, and that was what shaped my reality when I was working under President Trump’s leadership .. The real reason that made me go to Florida was to meet Hamad bin Jassim, who was prime minister of Qatar from 2007 to 2013, as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 2013, and Managing Director of the Qatar Investment Authority from 2005 to 2013. But these titles do not accurately describe the true power of the one person responsible for using the 320 billion, especially the organization. This has made him perhaps the only person on the planet who has a power close to what Vladimir Putin (President of the Russian Federation) has when it comes to money and decision-making.

At this time Qatar was isolated by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (the truth is the Arab alliance that includes Saudi Arabia, the Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt) and I was trying to place “Hamad” in the good circle of the President of the United States as a way to make this small and very rich emirate face the geopolitical threat ( !). I knew Hamad from years before that, when the Qataris were trying to invest in a building in New York and I was the broker for the deal, but now I was treated in a completely different way from the Prince and others as Donald Trump’s lawyer. “Hamad” took this into account, and treated my role with respect. When Hamad asked to meet Trump face to face, I called Jie Cyclo, the lawyer who was representing Shane Hanty (a famous announcer on the Fox News Network) and who introduced him to Trump, and he became, day after day, the liaison between me and the White House.

So I was going to Mar-Lago as a salad broker who prepared the food that the richest man in the world and the president of the United States would eat, and I did so very easily. And this is what I was talking about when I wrote about the magnetic effect that those around Trump fall into: Despite everything being rude and annoying, he was actually running the world, and I (Michael Cohen) was really, the insanity of the incredibly powerful lawyer who fixes the plane of existence in galaxies. Universe.

The dinner room was crowded with billionaires like Nelson Peltz and Ike Perlmeter, but in this audience Trump was a god among the gods. In the middle of the room there was one table surrounded by a red velvet rope to isolate it from the others, and there were three seats, one for the president, the other for Hamad, and the third for me. The most powerful, the richest, and I truly am, a fact that I still do not understand today. Trump was just as I found him, in the same way he lives in the land of imagination. He always lived among the rich moving around, but now he’s literally the center of attention, as he always wanted to. The truth is, I felt like I was a billion dollars. Nothing could stop me, and I assumed that all I had to do was to ask in the presence of one of the richest men of the earth looking intently at the leader of the free world.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the president of the United States” thus announced a Trump employee for his forerunner, and Trump entered the midst of a storm of applause standing by. The only thing that can compare to this reception is the way the North Koreans receive Kim Jong Un. “Hamad, you are one of the richest people in the world,” Trump said as a way of serving as he approached the table, and “You know Michael’s lawyer.” This definition definitely made me feel special. The conversation turned from the Middle East and its geopolitics to economics to levels of abstraction for the important world problems that I had not witnessed except in the presence of Henry Kissinger. Hamad bin Jassim had a deep knowledge of the needs of the region and of the deep causes of the Sunni Shiite split and the war in Yemen. The prince spoke about ISIS, Hezbollah, Iran and justice in the case of the Houthi rebels in Yemen. At the time, Jared Kouchner was working to produce a plan for peace in the Middle East, at least in theory, while the prince was addressing Trump directly, sure that his views on the most existential issues facing his nation would be heard. He had strong reasons to request this meeting. Trump was close to the young Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, and the Saudis hate the Qataris, and so Hamad’s meeting with Trump was an opportunity of infinite value.

A cocktail of shrimp, grilled meat, and grilled salmon, and the food was excellent as is usual in Trump’s properties, and the dinner lasted for two hours, and in my estimation he looked at various important issues for the President and Hamad. I felt that everyone in the room was looking at the three on our table with great interest .. I felt as if I was looking at a betting card for the authority, but I had all its correct numbers and its prize was $ 700 million. I was sure that Trump supported me and that, in the end, all the problems of “Stormy Daniel” (a “pornographic” actress with whom Trump tied in 2006, and when he threatened him during his election campaign to broadcast the incident, Michael Cohen settled the matter for 130 million dollars) will not be more than a hiccup. A cup of coffee. Nothing would happen to me, I was sure no matter what.

While Trump and Hamad were on our way through the room after eating I confirmed to present him to Franklin Haney, a developer who was on his way to paying me a brokerage commission of $ 10 million, in addition to 15% in the company if I helped get a little bit of money from Money for his nuclear plant. Hamad bin Jassim had just committed to investing $ 45 billion in the United States, so a small investment of $ 2 billion in the Hani project seemed not only reasonable, but also likely.