Enlarge / Michael Cohen, longtime personal lawyer and confidant for President Donald Trump, arrives at the United States District Court Southern District of New York on April 26, 2018 in New York City. (credit: Getty Images | Spencer Platt )

Congressional Democrats are asking US regulators for information on whether AT&T payments to President Trump’s personal lawyer were made in order to influence the government’s review of AT&T’s merger with Time Warner Inc.

AT&T paid $600,000 to Trump lawyer Michael Cohen’s shell company, Essential Consultants, “the same vehicle he used in October 2016 to direct $130,000 to the adult-film actress known professionally as Stormy Daniels to stay silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Mr. Trump in 2006,” The Wall Street Journal wrote yesterday.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) yesterday asked the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division for answers.