NPR released audio Thursday of Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal lawyer, threatening a reporter in an expletive-laden rant back in 2015.
In the recording, Cohen warned Tim Mak, who at the time was a reporter for the Daily Beast, to “tread very f—ing lightly” with an article he was writing in about claims made by President Trump’s ex-wife, Ivana Trump, about when he allegedly assaulted her in 1989.
“I’m warning you tread very fucking lightly because what I’m going to do to you is going to be fucking disgusting. Do you understand me? Don’t think you can hide behind your pen, because it’s not going to happen,” Cohen said in 2015.
“I’m more than happy to discuss it with your attorney and with your legal counsel because, motherfucker, you’re going to need it,” he continued.
Ivana Trump made the allegations during her divorce from the president, but they first became public in Harry Hurt III’s 1993 book, Lost Tycoon: The Many Lives of Donald J. Trump. Ivana, however, walked back her comments in a statement to CNN in 2015.
“I have recently read some comments attributed to me from nearly 30 years ago at a time of very high tension during my divorce from Donald,” Ivana Trump wrote.
“The story is totally without merit. Donald and I are the best of friends and together have raised three children that we love and are very proud of,” she added.
President Trump also pushed back on the allegations and distanced himself from Cohen, a campaign source telling CNN in 2015, “Mr. Trump speaks for Mr. Trump, and nobody but Mr. Trump speaks for him.”
Listen to the audio below:
