Dozens of emails and other documents obtained by the Democrats showed that Michael Cohen worked with Novartis for six months longer than the company said in May. | Seth Wenig/AP Photo
President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, maintained a far more extensive relationship with drugmaker Novartis than previously disclosed — including pitching the company on an opportunity that would benefit a Russian-linked investment firm — according to a report issued Friday by Senate Democrats.
Dozens of emails and other documents obtained by the Democrats showed that Cohen worked with Novartis for six months longer than the company said in May, a period during which he pitched executives on investing in a pharmaceutical company backed by investment firm Columbus Nova. The firm is linked to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg, who was sanctioned last month over Russia’s meddling in the U.S. election.
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Novartis, in turn, sought to influence the Trump administration’s effort to lower drug prices, sending a list of policy ideas that Cohen promised then-Novartis CEO Joe Jimenez he would pass along to administration officials, according to emails obtained by the Democrats. Many of the ideas Novartis provided to Cohen ended up in a Trump blueprint to address drug pricing.
“The sweetheart deals and backdoor promises documented in this report are a snapshot of Cohen’s multi-million dollar side hustle as influencer-in-chief,” said Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, one of the lead lawmakers in the investigation.
The report, which was compiled by Democrats from the Senate Finance and HELP committees, comes after federal investigators working for special counsel Robert Mueller questioned Novartis and other companies about their relationships with Cohen.
At the time, the Swiss drug giant acknowledged that it agreed to pay Cohen $1.2 million over a year for help gaining insight into the Trump administration’s health care plans. But the company said he failed to deliver on what he promised, and that it quickly cut ties.
The decision was “a mistake,” Novartis said in May. The firm’s general counsel, Felix Ehrat, later took responsibility for the contract and resigned.
Still, Novartis continued paying Cohen solely because it was stuck in the contract.
Novartis’ account minimized the drugmaker’s work with Cohen, the Democrats’ report alleged. Cohen emailed with Jimenez for another six months and held at least four phone calls where they discussed both the administration’s drug pricing work and the potential investment in a Columbus Nova-backed drug company.
Novartis maintains it accurately characterized the extent of its relationship with Cohen.
“Novartis had one and only meeting with Mr. Cohen on March 1, 2017 and then concluded that he was not able to provide the substantive consulting advice and insight for which he was hired. We never asked Mr. Cohen to perform any services on our behalf after March 1, nor did he perform any,” the company said in a statement Friday.
Novartis acknowledged it was under contract with Cohen, but spokesperson Eric Althoff told POLITICO, it never engaged Cohen for those services.
Jimenez had additional contact with Cohen after March 1 “on a handful of occasions,” Novartis said. This interaction was initiated by Cohen “and as a courtesy Joe replied,” Althoff said.
As part of this follow-up communication, Jimenez provided Cohen with ideas for lowering the cost of drug pricing.
“My personal view is that Joe kind of did some homework for him,” Althoff said, referring to the drug pricing ideas, which the company described as “well-known ideas” and “publicly“ available information.
“We basically never worked with Michael Cohen. Yes we were under contract with him but we never worked with him,” Althoff said.
Novartis also denies that it invested in the Columbus Nova-backed pharmaceutical company, Yamo, at Cohen’s request. Althoff said Novartis never invested in the company.
Novartis was one of several large companies that sought out Cohen in the wake of Trump’s election. The company initially signed a yearlong contract with Cohen — who Democrats said represented himself as a “special counsel” to the president — that included calling for him to provide Novartis with access to “key policymakers.”
POLITICO reported this week that Medicare and Medicaid quietly killed a plan to pay for Novartis half-million dollar cancer treated based on how well it worked, after it drew internal HHS scrutiny and became the target of congressional investigations. HHS lawyers were concerned agency officials were “unusually deferential” to the company’s recommendations for evaluating the drug.
Democrats in Congress were investigating the agreement, raising concerns about whether the company got preferential treatment because of its relationship with Cohen. Health policy experts believed the deal, touted as a way for the Trump administration to lower drug costs, would have been a financial giveaway to the company.
Novartis told POLITICO that Cohen did not advise Novartis on its drug pricing strategy or on whom to speak with in the Trump administration on the topic. It also said it did not specifically work with Cohen on an arrangement with the government to pay for this pricey medicine.