Franklin, Andrews, Kramer & Edelstein

[scion]

Trump claims Cohen tape may be illegal and insists he did nothing wrong

> Tape contains discussion of payment to Playboy model

> New York state law allows recording of conversations

Martin Pengelly @MartinPengelly Sat 21 Jul 2018 11.35 EDT First published on Sat 21 Jul 2018 09.35 EDT Shares 1,321
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/21/donald-trump-michael-cohen-tape-playboy-model

“The good news,” Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday morning, “is that your favourite president did nothing wrong!”

He was referring to reports his former lawyer Michael Cohen taped a conversation in which he and the then presidential candidate discussed a potential payment to a Playboy model who claims to have had an affair with Trump.

Trump also questioned the legality of both the raids and the tape, writing: “Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) – almost unheard of. Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client – totally unheard of & perhaps illegal.”

Such a tape recording may be regarded as privileged communication between attorney and client. This week however, a court official in New York that of 4,085 documents and electronic records seized in FBI raids and designated as privileged by Cohen, Trump, or the Trump Organization, 1,452 were not privileged and would be released to the government.

Under New York state law, recording a conversation is not a crime. It is in other states – it is not clear where Cohen and Trump were when the call was made.

According to multiple reports, first by the New York Times, the tape was made shortly before the 2016 election and is now in the hands of federal authorities. The FBI raided Cohen’s home, hotel room and offices in April, on a referral from special counsel Robert Mueller. Trump denounced the raid as an “attack on our country, in a true sense”. Cohen has said agents were “respectful, courteous and professional”.

Cohen has not been charged with any crime. Through his own lawyer and an interview with ABC earlier this month, he has hinted that he may co-operate with various authorities investigating issues including payments to women and possible links between Trump aides and Russian election interference.

“My wife, my daughter and my son have my first loyalty and always will,” Cohen told ABC, adding: “I put my family and country first.”

This week, Cohen confirmed that he spoke to Rev Al Sharpton, an MSNBC host. Sharpton said on Friday they talked for more than an hour and he sensed Cohen was “very troubled” and felt he “had been abandoned by Mr Trump”.

“It was a very, very serious Michael Cohen I met with,” Sharpton said, adding: “I got the impression that whatever he knows, he is going to be forthcoming.”

In April, Trump tweeted: “Most people will flip if the government lets them out of trouble, even if it means lying or making up stories. Sorry, I don’t see Michael doing that.”

Trump’s current lawyer, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, confirmed that the Cohen-Trump tape exists and that the two-minute conversation includes Trump discussing possible payments to Karen McDougal, who claims an affair in 2006.

Trump denies the affair. Giuliani argued that the conversation revealed no wrongdoing, that Trump had been trying to document any payment properly, and that no payments were made.

Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis, told reporters on Friday that “any attempt at spin cannot change what is on” the recording. Davis responded to Trump’s remarks, which he said were “false”, and called his legal team’s strategy “flawed”. Of Trump’s tweet, he wrote: “Why so angry?”

McDougal sold her story to the National Enquirer tabloid, run by a Trump ally, for $150,000. It did not publish it, in a practice known as “catch and kill”.

Cohen is under investigation regarding work for Trump including the facilitation of a $130,000 payment to a porn star, Stormy Daniels, who also claims an affair with the three-times married billionaire.

Trump denies that affair too. Giuliani has admitted that Cohen was reimbursed for a figure larger than the payment.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/jul/21/donald-trump-michael-cohen-tape-playboy-model