Telecommunications giant AT&T said Friday that hiring President Donald Trump‘s lawyer Michael Cohen as a consultant was a “big mistake.”

AT&T’s apology came a day after drug maker Novartis likewise said, “we made a mistake” in hiring Cohen as a consultant.

Novartis previously had revealed that it paid Cohen a whopping $1.2 million under a contract began last year for consulting work that he quickly proved unable to do.

AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson, in mea culpa memo issued Friday about Cohen, also revealed that the company’s senior vice president for external and legal affairs Bob Quinn, “will be retiring.”

Stephenson said from now on the External & Legal Affairs group would be reporting to company general counsel David McAttee.

On Tuesday night, a lawyer for porn star Stormy Daniels ignited a media furor by releasing a report that a shell company created by Cohen has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from businesses on the heels of Trump’s election, at the same time Cohen was acting at the president’s personal’s attorney.

Here is the full memo:

All AT&T employees worldwide Team, Our company has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons these last few days and our reputation has been damaged. There is no other way to say it – AT&T hiring Michael Cohen as a political consultant was a big mistake.

To be clear, everything we did was done according to the law and entirely legitimate. But the fact is, our past association with Cohen was a serious misjudgment. In this instance, our Washington D.C. team’s vetting process clearly failed, and I take responsibility for that.

Here is more information on this issue, if you’re interested. For the foreseeable future, the External & Legislative Affairs (E&LA) group will report to our General Counsel David McAtee. Bob Quinn, Senior Executive Vice President – E&LA, will be retiring. David’s number one priority is to ensure every one of the individuals and firms we use in the political arena are people who share our high standards and who we would be proud to have associated with AT&T.

To all of you who work tirelessly every day to serve customers and represent the brand proudly, thank you. My personal commitment to you is – we will do better.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

Source: Tech CNBC
AT&T CEO says hiring Trump lawyer Michael Cohen was a 'big mistake'