The federal government seized at least 12 audio tapes from Michael Cohen, the former personal lawyer for President Trump, according to a new court filing.
Special master Barbara Jones told U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood on Monday that the government got the tapes after either Cohen, Trump, or the Trump organization withdrew attorney-client privilege claims. It is unclear which of the three parties did so.
[Michael Avenatti: ‘I know for a fact that this is not the only tape’]
Jones has been overseeing the review of materials seized by the FBI in their raid of Cohen’s home, office, and hotel to determine what is privileged. More than 4 million documents were seized.
It is unclear what appears on the tapes.
Cohen has not been charged by the federal government yet, as he is currently fighting over what materials can be used by prosecutors.
However, the Justice Department did confirm that he is under criminal investigation, and that investigation reportedly involves campaign finance violations and bank and wire fraud, among other crimes.
Last week, the New York Times reported on one of the 12 tapes: Cohen recorded a conversation with Trump two months before the 2016 election about payments to Karen McDougal.
McDougal, a former Playboy model, alleges she had an affair with the president for 10 months in 2006.
The Trump campaign has denied knowledge of such payments, though Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani told the Times that the discussions did take place.
The recording is reportedly a short conversation between Cohen and Trump about a plan to buy the rights to McDougal’s story from a media company for $150,000. However, it has been reported that the payment never happened.
Cohen was also involved in an alleged payment to Stormy Daniels, a porn star who has also alleged an affair with Trump.
