President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen secretly recorded Trump discussing a payment to a former Playboy model two months before the 2016 election.
The existence of the recording was confirmed by current Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani, who told the New York Times that “it’s powerful exculpatory evidence.”
Giuliani said the recording lasts less than two minutes and “nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of it in advance.”
[Opinion: Michael Cohen’s tape of Trump isn’t that big a deal — yet]
Former Playboy model Karen McDougal was paid $150,000 for her story of an alleged 2006 affair with Trump by the publisher of the National Enquirer, which did not run the story.
McDougal has expressed regret about her actions, unlike porn star Stormy Daniels, who was paid $130,000 by Cohen in 2016 in exchange for her silence.
Giuliani told the Times that Trump had instructed Cohen to pay McDougal with a check, rather than with cash, so it could be documented. But it’s unclear if these instructions are on the recording.
The recording was identified by Cohen’s attorneys after vast amounts of records were seized by federal authorities in April raids on his residence, hotel room, and office. Authorities reportedly were investigating, in part, his role in the Daniels payment. Some experts say the payment could violate campaign finance law.
It’s unclear if either Cohen or Trump consider the recording subject to attorney-client privilege. It’s also unclear where the recording was made. In some states it’s illegal to secretly record a conversation without the consent of all parties.
