Ukraine ‘paid’ Trump's lawyer to arrange White House talks

WASHINGTON, May 24 (Reuters): US President Donald Trump's personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, received a secret payment of at least $400,000 to arrange talks between Trump and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko last year, the British Broadcasting Corp (BBC) reported on Wednesday.

The payment was arranged by intermediaries acting for Poroshenko who wanted to open a back channel to the Republican US president, the BBC said, citing unnamed sources in Kiev.

Cohen, who was not registered as a representative of Ukraine, was brought in because Ukraine's registered lobbyists and its embassy in Washington could get Poroshenko little more than a photo op with Trump while the Ukrainian leader "needed something that could be portrayed as 'talks,'" the broadcaster reported.