President Trump avoided responding to questions on Wednesday about a newly released audio recording that could shed light on his involvement in paying for the rights to a former Playboy model’s story about her alleged affair with him.
The president declined to answer shouted questions during a meeting with the European Commission leader Jean-Claude Juncker about the taped conversation between himself and his longtime attorney Michael Cohen.
[Opinion: Michael Cohen’s tape of Trump isn’t that big a deal – yet]
The recording was released to CNN late Tuesday evening by Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, who said he released the tape to dispute an account of the payment that had previously been provided by Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
Trump and Cohen can be heard discussing a payment by cash or check in the audio, though it is unclear which form then-candidate Trump was suggesting. A transcript provided by the White House claims Trump told Cohen, “Don’t pay with cash.”
Prior to ignoring questions during his sit-down with Juncker, Trump posted a tweet criticizing his former attorney for secretly recording their discussion.
“What kind of lawyer would tape a client? So sad!” he tweeted. “Is this a first, never heard of it before? Why was the tape so abruptly terminated… while I was presumably saying positive things? I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped — can this be so? Too bad!”
