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Finding Out About Fixers

Thanks to Michael Cohen, the president’s personal lawyer, we’ve all learned a lot recently about fixers.

A fixer is someone who takes care of the boss’s problems -- with charm, or with money, or with threats. Intimidated people with stories to tell go quiet after signing non-disclosure agreements. Poof, problem solved. File the agreement and move on.

Only this time it didn’t work. Michael Cohen got everyone’s attention a few months ago when he claimed responsibility for the $130,000 check paid in November 2016 to silence Stormy Daniels. She had been ready to spill the beans about an affair with candidate Trump.

Michael Cohen’s model is master fixer Roy Cohn of McCarthy-era fame. Twenty years later, Roy Cohn defended young real estate developer Donald Trump, charged with violation of the Fair Housing Act. Cohn was known for his hardball tactics, his extreme right-wing politics, and his lack of ethics.

Michael Cohen is now under criminal investigation and has his own lawyer. His office and home were recently raided by the FBI. Instead of fixing the president’s problems, he has become one. A serious one.

In this circus full of strange characters, it’s been fascinating to learn more about the president’s fixer -- except what I’d really like is a president who doesn’t have a fixer because he doesn’t need one. Because he knows the buck stops with him.

I’m Deborah Booth, and that’s my perspective.

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