Everyone is freaking out over a New York Times report that the FBI has secured an audio tape involving President Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, and Trump himself. But here’s the thing: This audio tape is not the disaster for Trump that some are presenting.
According to the Times and Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani, the tape records Trump and Cohen discussing payment to a woman, Karen McDougal, a model who says she had an affair with the Trump.
Yet unless the recording shows that Trump authorized the payment with federal donations, there would appear to be no laws broken here. Indeed, Giuliani says that the president is recorded on the audiotape as telling Cohen to write a check to McDougal so as to ensure proper documentation for the payment. If that’s true and Giluliani’s contention that the payment to McDougal was never made is also true, then the president wouldn’t appear to have a major issue here. And we already know that at the margin, Trump’s base and most Americans care very little about whether presidents cheat on their spouses.
There are two caveats, however. First, the audio tape’s lends credibility to McDougal’s assertion of an affair with the president. That might be a problem for first lady Melania Trump. Second, if Cohen secretly recorded this audiotape, how many others did he record and what do those recordings show?
I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough. But until then, let’s take a breath.
