--- title: Donald Trump Steered $150,00 From Oligarch to His Charity description: Donald Trump personally directed his personal attorney to have a Ukrainian oligarch donate $150,000 to his personal charity. canonical: https://time.com/5540575/michael-cohen-donald-trump-foundation-ukraine-victor-pinchuk/ author: Abigail Abrams article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-02-27T23:24:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-13T08:23:44.750Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Steered $150,000 From a Ukrainian Oligarch to His Personal Foundation, Michael Cohen Says og:description: It was the largest donation to the charity that year from anyone other than Trump og:url: https://time.com/5540575/michael-cohen-donald-trump-foundation-ukraine-victor-pinchuk/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2564203834c27e42/698945f5457a52a843d60998/michael-cohen-donald-trump-testimony-foundation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5568 og:image:height: 3132 og:image:alt: US-POLITICS-INVESTIGATION-COHEN og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Steered $150,000 From a Ukrainian Oligarch to His Personal Foundation, Michael Cohen Says twitter:description: It was the largest donation to the charity that year from anyone other than Trump twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2564203834c27e42/698945f5457a52a843d60998/michael-cohen-donald-trump-testimony-foundation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Steered $150,000 From a Ukrainian Oligarch to His Personal Foundation, Michael Cohen Says > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=07f44f72-6493-45c9-9224-abfeef95d799&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Michael Cohen Testifies That Trump Was Aware Of $130,000 Payment To Stormy Daniels [Watch (HLS stream): Michael Cohen Testifies That Trump Was Aware Of $130,000 Payment To Stormy Daniels](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QcGDMskd.m3u8) (1:14)  _Published 2019-02-27. Michael Cohen Says That Trump Was Aware Of $130,000 Payment To Stormy Daniels During Testimony_ by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Feb 27, 2019 11:24 PM UTC Michael Cohen Says That Trump Was Aware Of $130,000 Payment To Stormy Daniels During Testimony by [Abigail Abrams](https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/) ## Abigail Abrams Feb 27, 2019 11:24 PM UTC Donald Trump personally directed his personal attorney to have a Ukrainian oligarch donate $150,000 to his personal charity in lieu of a speaking fee for a brief internet interview at an economic conference during his presidential campaign, according to the attorney. [Testifying under oath](http://time.com/5540496/michael-cohen-testimony-claims/) before the House Oversight Committee Wednesday, Michael Cohen said that Victor Pinchuk asked Trump to speak at a Ukrainian-American economic forum in 2015 when his presidential campaign was already underway. Trump couldn’t attend in person, so Cohen said he negotiated a $150,000 fee for a 15-minute interview conducted with translators on Skype that would be shown at the forum. But, Cohen said, Trump told him to have the fee made as a donation instead of a payment. “I was directed by Mr. Trump to have the contract done in the name of the Donald J. Trump Foundation as opposed to Donald J. Trump for services rendered,” he testified. Pinchuk, a Ukrainian billionaire and steel magnate, made the donation in September 2015, during Trump’s campaign for the presidency, according to a 2018 [story in the New York _Times_](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/09/us/politics/trump-mueller-ukraine-victor-pinchuk.html)_._ The money represented the largest donation Trump’s foundation received that year from anyone other than Trump himself. The Donald J. Trump Foundation has faced increasing scrutiny since Trump began running for president. After New York’s attorney general sued the foundation last year, it [agreed to dissolve](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/18/nyregion/ny-ag-underwood-trump-foundation.html) in December and give away its assets as part of the ongoing investigation. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is also investigating the donation, according to the _Times_. During his presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly lambasted Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton for donations made to her private foundation while she was Secretary of State, at one point calling it “most corrupt enterprise in political history.” > [](https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/760184336603811842) ## Transcript Mr. Trump is a conman. He asked me to pay off an adult film star with whom he had an affair and to lie about it to his wife which I did. Prior to the election, [ BLANK_AUDIO ] I was contacted by. [ UNKNOWN ] Davidson who is the Attorney or was the Attorney for Ms. Clifford, for Stormy Daniels. And after rounds of conversations with him about purchasing her life rights for a $ 130, 000, what I did Each and every time he'd go straight into Mr. Trump's office and discuss the issue with him. When it was ultimately determined, and this was days before the election, that Mr. Trump was going to pay the $ 130 thousand. Mr. President, did you know about the $ 130, 000 payment to Stormy Daniels? No, no. Why did Michael Cohen make this if there was no truth to the allegations? Well, you'll have to ask Michael Cohen. Michael's my attorney and you'll have to ask Michael. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5540575/michael-cohen-donald-trump-foundation-ukraine-victor-pinchuk/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5540575/michael-cohen-donald-trump-foundation-ukraine-victor-pinchuk/"},"headline":"Trump Steered $150,000 From a Ukrainian Oligarch to His Personal Foundation, Michael Cohen Says","datePublished":"2019-02-27T23:24:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-13T08:23:44.750Z","description":"Donald Trump personally directed his personal attorney to have a Ukrainian oligarch donate $150,000 to his personal charity.","url":"https://time.com/5540575/michael-cohen-donald-trump-foundation-ukraine-victor-pinchuk/","keywords":["Donald Trump","michael cohen"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2564203834c27e42/698945f5457a52a843d60998/michael-cohen-donald-trump-testimony-foundation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Abigail Abrams","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/abigail-abrams/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2564203834c27e42/698945f5457a52a843d60998/michael-cohen-donald-trump-testimony-foundation.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"US-POLITICS-INVESTIGATION-COHEN","caption":"US-POLITICS-INVESTIGATION-COHEN","creditText":"Mandel Ngan—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5540575/michael-cohen-donald-trump-foundation-ukraine-victor-pinchuk/","name":"Trump Steered $150,000 From a Ukrainian Oligarch to His Personal Foundation, Michael Cohen Says"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Michael Cohen Testifies That Trump Was Aware Of $130,000 Payment To Stormy Daniels","description":"Michael Cohen Says That Trump Was Aware Of $130,000 Payment To Stormy Daniels During Testimony","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/QcGDMskd/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2019-02-27T18:17:54.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QcGDMskd.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5540575/michael-cohen-donald-trump-foundation-ukraine-victor-pinchuk/","duration":"PT1M14S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5540575/michael-cohen-donald-trump-foundation-ukraine-victor-pinchuk/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```