Russia-linked company that hired Cohen registered alt-right websites during campaign: report

A Russia-linked company that reportedly hired President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, reportedly registered websites aimed at white nationalists and the alt-right during the 2016 presidential campaign, The Washington Post reported.  

Columbus Nova registered several website domains and named them after the alt-right movement, according to the Post.

As the movement grew during the campaign, sites including Alt-right.co, Alternate-right.com, Alternate-rt.com and Alt-rite.com were reportedly registered to the company.

A spokesperson for Columbus Nova told the Post that the company was unaware of the sites before Wednesday, adding that chief executive Andrew Intrater was not acting on behalf of the firm when he registered the websites. 

Intrater reportedly used his company email address and listed the organization while creating the sites, however.

It’s unclear whether the websites were ever officially launched, according to the newspaper, which added that they were registered just two days after Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton gave a speech in August 2016 denouncing the movement.

NBC News first reported the website registrations.

Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigators reportedly interviewed Intrater and Russian investment partner Viktor Vekselberg, an oligarch with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. NBC has reported that Intrater and Vekselberg are cousins.

The investment firm retained Cohen as a consultant, according to documents released by Stormy Daniels’s attorney, Michael Avenatti, on Tuesday. Avenatti suggested $500,000 in payments may have been used to reimburse Cohen’s $130,000 payment to the adult-film star.

Trump admitted last week that he paid back his lawyer for the payment to Daniels, whose legal name is Stephanie Clifford, days before the election to keep quiet about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump in 2006.

Cohen and his businesses are under federal investigation for possible bank fraud, wire fraud and campaign finance violations, the Post has reported.