"There are more tapes": Michael Cohen's lawyer promises more damaging recordings of Trump [View all]

[DonViejo]

Cohen drops a bomb: Tape of Trump discussing hush money for alleged affair with Playboy model released

MATTHEW ROZSA
JULY 25, 2018 3:08PM (UTC)

President Donald Trump initially denied any knowledge about a payment made to former Playboy model Karen McDougal, but his former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen released audio evidence on Tuesday night that makes evident Trump was aware of an attempt to quash a report about his alleged extramarital affair with the model only weeks before the 2016 presidential election.

Cohen released a secretly recorded taping of his 2016 conversation with Trump to CNN, via his lawyer Lanny Davis.

The key section of the tape involves the then-Republican presidential candidate telling Cohen that he wants a payment pertaining to McDougal's story to be paid in "cash." At the time of the recording, American Media, a company that owns the pro-Trump tabloid National Enquirer, wanted to buy McDougal's story for what seemed to have been a practice known as "catch and kill." The plan was to purchase exclusive rights to McDougal's story in order to prevent any other outlet from publishing information seen as damaging to Trump.

"I need to open up a company for the transfer of all of that info regarding our friend David," Cohen tells Trump in the recording, most likely a reference to David Pecker, the head of American Media.

Later, after Cohen again raises the matter of financing, Trump interjects to ask what Cohen is talking about. Cohen then reminds him that "we'll have to pay" for the story, to which Trump tells Cohen to "pay with cash," although it is unclear based on the subsequent section of the audio whether he means to pay with cash or to not pay with cash. This is important because Trump's new lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, first claimed that the tape would exonerate Trump because it makes clear Trump wanted a paper trail for the payment.

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https://www.salon.com/2018/07/25/there-are-more-tapes-michael-cohens-lawyer-promises-more-damaging-recordings-of-trump/