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Michael D. Cohen appears to want the world to know that as former boss Donald Trump is besieged by investigations into Russian influence on the 2016 election and into alleged, pre-election hush payments to women who claimed they'd had affairs with the president, the attorney vows to do what's right.

Rev. Al Sharpton appeared Friday on "MSNBC Live with Ali Velshi" and spoke of his morning meeting with Cohen: "He kept saying to me over and over again, 'Reverend, Im going to do whats right for the country, Im going to do whats right for my family.'"

Sharpton said he's known Cohen as Trump's right-hand man for nearly 20 years, and that the president's former personal attorney requested the meeting "several days ago." The symbolic breaking of bread, Sharpton said, is a signal to Trump as the reverend and the president have previously been adversaries on social justice issues.

"I think the fact that, Ali, out of all of the people he could have reached out to reaching out to me in and of itself was sending a signal to President Trump and probably to prosecutors..." Sharpton told Velshi.

"What I sensed from him was that he is really trying to be very clear that hes independent of Mr. Trump," Sharpton said. "And that hes going to tell the truth whatever the truth is."

Cohen feels abandoned by Trump, the Reverend added.

Offered an opportunity to refute or clarify Sharpton's account, Cohen's attorney, Lanny J. Davis, said via email, "We respect Rev. Sharptons support and encouragement of Michael Cohen to put his family and country first and tell the truth."

Cohen's office and hotel room were raided in the spring and his phone calls were logged by the FBI in a U.S. Department of Justice probe of those alleged hush payments as possible violations of campaign finance law.

As Trump's self-described fixer, it's widely believed Cohen could have a lot of information for investigators. Earlier today multiple reports stated that Cohen had a recording of the president-elect discussing a $150,000 payment to a former Playboy model who alleged she had an affair with Trump.

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Al Sharpton says Michael Cohen wants to do what's right for ...

Birth name: Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr.

Mother: Ada Essie (Richards) Sharpton

Marriages: Kathy Lee Jordan (1980-present, separated); Marsha Tinsley (less than a year)

Children: Ashley, September 1987 and Dominique, July 31, 1986

Education: Attended Brooklyn College

Religion: Baptist

Other Facts:

Modeled his hair style on James Brown's hair.

Kathy Jordan, Sharpton's second wife, was a backup singer for James Brown.

Timeline:1958 - Preaches his first sermon, "Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled," before learning to read or write.

1964 - Is ordained as a Pentecostal minister.

1970s - Founds National Youth Movement to raise money for poor youth and fight drugs (later renamed United African Movement).

1987 - Becomes the spokesman for the family of Tawana Brawley, a black teenager who claimed she was abducted and raped by six white police officers.

January 1988 - A Newsday article reveals that Sharpton was an FBI informant on organized crime, public figures, and black civic leaders.

1989 - Is charged with 67 felony counts of tax evasion, larceny and fraud. Is acquitted on all counts and pleads guilty to the misdemeanor charge of failure to file state income tax for 1986.

1990 - Supports the five black defendants in the Central Park jogger case where a white female jogger was gang raped and beaten. In December 2002 all convictions are overturned when another man confesses to the crime and DNA evidence supports his confession.

January 12, 1991 - Is stabbed in the chest under the left clavicle while leading a march in Bensonhurst against the verdict in the case of the 1989 murder of Yusef Hawkins. The wound is not considered life-threatening. Michael Riccardi is convicted of the crime and Sharpton speaks at Riccardi's sentencing hearing, asking for leniency.

1992 - Enters politics and places third of four Democratic candidates in New York's primary for the US Senate.

1994 - Runs and loses in the primary for Daniel Patrick Moynihan's US Senate seat.

February 1994 - Converts from Pentecostal to Baptist and returns to preaching.

1997 - Comes in second in New York's mayoral primary with 32% of the vote.

1998 - Steven Pagones, the former assistant D.A. accused of raping Tawana Brawley, files a civil suit against Sharpton and others involved in the 1987 incident. A jury orders Sharpton to pay $65,000 for defamation.

1999 - Organizes a massive demonstration after the death of Amadou Diallo, an unarmed man killed by police outside his Bronx apartment.

2001 - Is sentenced to 90 days in jail for trespassing on US Navy property during a protest of military training activities on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques, where he fasted for 43 days.

April 22, 2003 - Formally announces his candidacy for the Democratic nomination for president.

August 2003 - Is sued by a New York city travel agency for allegedly using fake credit card information.

December 6, 2003 - Hosts NBC's "Saturday Night Live."

May 13, 2004 - Is ordered by the Federal Election Commission to repay $100,000 in public matching funds he received in 2004 for his presidential bid.

July 28, 2004 - Addresses the Democratic National Convention in Boston.

September 20, 2007 - Leads several thousand people in a protest through Jena, Louisiana, in support of the "Jena Six," a group of teens charged with beating a white classmate.

October 8, 2008 - Is convicted of two counts of disorderly conduct stemming from an arrest at a May 2008 protest.

April 23, 2009 - Is fined $285,000 by the FEC, alleging he received hundreds of thousands of dollars in private funds. It is later found that his National Action Network gave hundreds of thousands of dollars towards his campaign that should have been covered by his election committee.

June 20, 2009 - Meets with Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to discuss allegations of racial profiling when arrests have been made.

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Al Sharpton Fast Facts - CNN

5:03 PM 06/19/2018

Julia Cohen | Contributor

Reverend Al Sharpton blamed the Trump administrations bigoted and insensitive immigration policy for the separation of children from their parents at the border during a Tuesday press conference.

I do not believe that President Trump would implement this at the Canadian border and do this to white children because these are children of color there is a different policy for them this bigoted and insensitive policy should end today, Sharpton said at the press conference.

Sharpton, a civil rights advocate, has previously accused Trump of bigotry. The reverend saidthe president has a racist and bigoted point of view in January after Trumps alleged shithole countries comment.

Sharpton held the Tuesday press conference with Florida Democratic Rep. Darren Soto and several other civil rights leaders in order to call on the Trump administration to stop separating children from their parents who are illegally crossing into the United States. (RELATED: Trump, DEFIANT: We Must Always Arrest Illegals)

Sharpton has been an advocate for the rights of illegal immigrants crossing into the United States, announcing on June 15 that he and other religious leaders would visit the border in June because all detainees have the right to a ministerial visit.

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Reverend Al Sharpton Said Children Are Being Separated At ...

PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton is a one-hour political talk show broadcast on MSNBC, hosted by Al Sharpton. It began on August 29, 2011 on MSNBC's weekday 6 PM slot,[1] the first time that the slot had been occupied by a branded series since January 2011.

In August 2015, it was announced that the series would move to just once a week on Sundays at 8AM starting on October 4, 2015. The series aired its final weekday episode on September 4, 2015.[2]

PoliticsNation was the formal renaming of the 6 PM weekday slot that had been occupied by a broadcast named MSNBC Live (sharing the same "generic" title as the primary morning-to-afternoon rolling-news program primarily staffed by anchors.) Sharpton had served as host of the slot since July, and was preceded by Cenk Uygur from January to June. Prior to Uygur, the slot had been occupied by The Ed Show from April 6, 2009 to January 24, 2011 (eventually moving to the 10 PM slot following Keith Olbermann's departure from MSNBC), and by 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue from March 17, 2008 (as Race to the White House) to April 3, 2009.

Sharpton's involvement with MSNBC began after June 29, 2011 when he became the primary substitute host for The Ed Show, leading to press speculation that Sharpton could attain his own series on the network in the vein of Rachel Maddow (who attained her own series in 2008 after serving as Keith Olbermann's primary substitute host on Countdown with Keith Olbermann), Lawrence O'Donnell (who attained his own series in 2010 after having served as Olbermann's primary substitute host) and Christopher Hayes (who attained his own weekend series beginning in mid-September 2011 after having served as a regular fill-in for both Maddow and O'Donnell).

After beginning his appearances as substitute host for Ed Schultz, conservative commentators and outlets slammed MSNBC's decision to hire Sharpton as a contributor (and even more so after becoming host of what became PoliticsNation); EURweb cited mockery of Sharpton by such conservative outlets as Breitbart.tv[3] in particular, doubts were raised by at least one member of the National Association of Black Journalists about Sharpton's ability to host a credible political talk show following past controversial comments, and criticism by African-American journalists raised the possibility of MSNBC having hired Sharpton in order to draw ratings. In response, Tamika Mallory, executive director of the National Action Network (which is headed by Sharpton as president) rebutted many of the criticisms in an editorial for TV One's NewsOne website, and also likened black criticism of MSNBC's decision to "crabs in a barrel".[4]

Sharpton's style of delivery, verbalized understanding of topics on PoliticsNation and a live flub with the teleprompter have been the subject of parody, especially on NBC series Saturday Night Live with Kenan Thompson playing Sharpton. It was the subject of a December 10, 2011 skit parodying the flub[5] as well as a May 19, 2012 skit with guest star Mick Jagger as a JPMorgan Chase executive.[6] Sharpton himself enjoyed the skits, and had Thompson on his show in February 2015. Sharpton returned the favor by appearing on SNL in March 2016.

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PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton - Wikipedia

JUNE 13--The not-for-profit social justice organization headed by Rev. Al Sharpton paid the New York activist a whopping $437,555 bonus--on top of his $250,000 salary--according to the groups most recent tax return submitted to the Internal Revenue Service.

The hefty payment to Sharpton was revealed in a filing by the National Action Network, the Harlem-based group Sharpton founded nearly 25 years ago. The organizations 2016 tax return, which Sharpton signed in November 2017, disclosed the one-time bonus to the 63-year-old civil rights leader.

According to its tax return, the National Action Network works within the spirit and tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and promotes an agenda that includes an equal standard of justice and decency for all people regardless of race. Sharpton, who serves as the groups president and CEO, spends an average of 40 hours a week working for the organization, according to the tax return.

The Christian activist social justice organization has 34 employees and 125 volunteers and reported $5.821 million in revenue in 2016 (the most recent year for which financial records have been made public). Expenses for 2016 totaled $5.817 million.

Sharptons 2016 base salary was $250,000. The bonus payment ballooned his total compensation to $687,555.

In justifying the bonus, the National Action Network--which Sharpton controls--told the IRS that, over the past 25 years, Sharpton had periodically declined compensation to ensure that the organization had sufficient operating funds to fulfill its payroll obligations and maintain ongoing operations. The organization added that it had previously received the services of the President and CEO without fully compensating for his services.

Additionally, the group recognizes that it did not offer any retirement or benefit package to the President and CEO in contrast to most peer organizations that do offer retirement or benefit packages.

In a move to rectify this purported shorting of Sharpton, the organization provided him with a "one-time bonus" of $437,555. This retroactive payout was meant to address prior compensation that was declined or not fully compensated.

The tax return offers no specifics as to how the $437,555 figure was arrived at or whose idea the payment was.

In fact, the organization itself noted that its Board/Executive Committee recognizes that developing a formal approach to compensating the President and CEO...would be an appropriate action to take at this time. To that end, the group reported commissioning a comparability study with regard to the compensation of Sharpton and Michael Hardy, the Sharpton sidekick who serves as the organizations $150,000-a-year general counsel.

Until recent years, the National Action Networks finances were a shambles, thanks to Sharptons mismanagement of the group. At one point, the organization owed federal, state, and city tax authorities nearly $2 million for unpaid payroll taxes and related penalties and interest. Subsequent negotiations with the IRS substantially cut the groups federal debt. In 2015, a payroll tax liability of nearly $800,000 was wiped from the organizations balance sheet.

The organizations finances were once so precarious that Sharpton himself lent the National Action Network hundreds of thousands of dollars. According to the 2016 tax return, the groups debt to its founder is now only $4056.

In addition to his compensation, Sharptons hefty expenses--first class air travel, luxury hotels, and a chauffeured car--are covered by the National Action Network. While Sharpton has an office at the groups leased Harlem headquarters, he often works from a midtown Manhattan office rented by the not-for-profit.

Until his August 2015 demotion, Sharpton hosted a daily show on MSNBC. His PoliticsNation program now airs on Sundays at 8 AM. (3 pages)

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Rev. Al Sharpton Gave Himself A $437,555 "Bonus" | The ...