Trump slams ex-lawyer over payment tape
Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client — totally unheard of and perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favourite President did nothing wrong. Donald Trump
washington — US President Donald Trump on Saturday denied any wrongdoing a day after reports that his onetime attorney had recorded them both discussing buying the rights to a story by a woman who said she had an affair with Trump.
The president said it was “perhaps illegal” for a lawyer to record a client.
“Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer’s office (early in the morning) — almost unheard of,” Trump tweeted, in an apparent reference to an FBI raid on the office of his former lawyer Michael Cohen in April. “Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client — totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favourite President did nothing wrong!” Trump added.
Trump’s onetime personal attorney Michael Cohen recorded a conversation with Trump two months before the 2016 election in which they discussed buying the rights to a story by a former Playboy model who said she had an affair with Trump, one of the president’s lawyers said.
Lawyer Rudy Giuliani said no campaign funding was involved in the discussion between Trump and Cohen, who has distanced himself from Trump in recent months as the FBI investigates Cohen’s business dealings. If campaign funds were used, that could run afoul of federal election law, legal experts say. Before the election, the Trump campaign denied any knowledge of payment to the former model but the taped conversation could undermine those denials.
The existence of the audio recording was first reported by the
which said Trump and Cohen discussed a potential payment to McDougal.
Giuliani confirmed the conversation to Reuters and that it took place in 2016 but said it involved reimbursing the parent company of the tabloid for McDougal’s story rights. —