Leaked tape piles pressure on Don, ex- lawyer to ‘ tell truth’
New York, July 25: The dramatic leak of a taped conversation between Donald Trump and his longtime attorney Michael Cohen signals an aggressive new strategy by the former fixer, raising questions about how much the US leader has to fear should he cooperate with prosecutors.
On the tape, which was broadcast on Tuesday, Trump can be heard discussing with Cohen how to hush up allegations that he had an affair with a Playboy model in 2006 and buying the rights to her story.
The tape was reportedly recorded two months before the 2016 presidential election — before the Trump campaign subsequently denied any knowledge about Karen McDougal’s allegations of a 10- month fling with the tycoon.
Cohen’s lawyer released the tape to television CNN network, an arch critic of the Trump administration, and in a flurry of interviews declared his client had “turned a corner” and would continue to speak “the truth.”
Mr Cohen, who once declared he was so loyal he would “take a bullet for the president,” is under federal investigation in New York for his business dealings and reportedly whether hush payments violated campaign finance laws.
In addition to being involved in efforts to hush up McDougal’s story, he famously paid $ 130,000 to porn star Stormy Daniels just weeks before the election to silence her own claims of an alleged onenight stand with Trump.
On Wednesday, his newly hired, high- powered attorney Lanny Davis compared the Cohen tape to the Watergate tapes that ultimately forced Republican president Richard Nixon to resign in 1974 to avoid impeachment.
“Listen to the tape in the way that ( former White House counsel) John Dean had a tape that did in Richard Nixon,” he told ABC television.
On the tape, Trump can be heard discussing with Cohen how to hush up allegations that he had an affair with a Playboy model in 2006 and buying the rights to her story Cohen’s lawyer released the tape to CNN, an arch critic of the Trump administration, and in a flurry of interviews declared his client would continue to speak ‘ the truth’