STAT Plus: Novartis needed a consultant. Over dinner, the CEO’s friend called Trump’s lawyer
Shortly after the 2016 election, Novartis chief executive Joe Jimenez was looking for a consultant to help understand how the Trump administration would approach health policy. So, when a friend suggested Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, Jimenez took the call, and personally suggested following up, according to a letter Novartis sent to senators in June and publicly released Friday.
These previously unreported details provide a new look into how Cohen convinced a major global pharmaceutical company to spend over a million dollars for advice about the administration, a deal the company later characterized as a “mistake.”
EHS