Lawyer retiring over Cohen deal

The Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis announced Wednesday that a top lawyer who co-signed a $1.2 million contract to hire President Donald Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, was stepping down in June.

Felix R. Ehrat, group general counsel of Novartis, is retiring “in the context of discussions surrounding Novartis’ former agreement with Essential Consultants, owned by Michael Cohen,” the company said.

The announcement comes days after AT&T’s chief executive Randall Stephenson said the top official in the company’s Washington office was leaving over a consulting deal with Cohen. In a memo to staff, Stephenson said the agreement to pay $600,000 to Cohen was a “big mistake.”

In February 2017, Novartis entered into a year-long, $1.2 million contract with Trump lawyer Michael Cohen and his company Essential Consultants.

The company has said Cohen promised insights into how the administration would work and approach health policy matters, such as the Affordable Care Act.

The contract was initiated by Novartis’ former chief executive, Joe Jimenez, according to a person familiar with the matter. Although the company decided after its first meeting, in March, not to pursue the relationship, Novartis said it continued paying $100,000 a month to Cohen, because the contract could not be terminated.

“Although the contract was legally in order, it was an error,” Ehrat said in a statement. “As a co-signatory with our former CEO, I take personal responsibility to bring the public debate on this matter to an end.”