Trump ‘taped discussing payments to model’

Lawyer’s recording of conversation about hushing up affair with Playboy star seized by FBI

DONALD TRUMP was secretly recorded by Michael Cohen, his personal lawyer, discussing hush payments to a former Playboy model who claims she had an affair with him, according to reports yesterday. A recording of the con- versation, which took place two months before the 2016 presidential election, was seized by the FBI in a raid on Mr Cohen’s home and office earlier this year.

Mr Cohen, who no longer represents Mr Trump, is being investigated over whether he violated campaign finance laws. Specifically, the FBI is looking into payments to Karen Mcdougal, a Playboy model, and Stormy Daniels, the adult film star, to stifle embarrassing news stories ahead of the election.

On the tape, the existence of which was revealed by The New York Times, Mr Trump was recorded talking about payments to Ms Mcdougal. She claims they had a months-long affair in 2006, shortly after Mr Trump’s wife Melania gave birth to Barron, their son. Mr Trump has denied the affair.

Ms Mcdougal, 47, sold her story to the National Enquirer just before the election for $150,000, (£114,000). The magazine, which is published by a friend of Mr Trump’s, did not print it.

The telephone discussion between Mr Trump and Mr Cohen was about whether to make a further payment to her, the newspaper reported. Rudy Giuliani, Mr Trump’s current lawyer, confirmed the veracity of the tape, which he said was less than two minutes long. He said the payment discussed was never actually made, and Mr Trump had done nothing wrong. Mr Trump had also told Mr Cohen that, if he did make a payment, to do it by cheque not cash, so it could be properly recorded.

Mr Trump was said to have only found out earlier this week that Mr Cohen had recorded him. His lawyers have reviewed a transcript of the tape, and were said to not believe it posed a legal problem for him. However, the episode raised the possibility that Mr Cohen secretly recorded other conversations with Mr Trump and senior campaign figures. Those may be of interest to Robert Mueller, the special counsel investigating whether Mr Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia.

The development came as speculation grew about the future of Dan Coats, Mr Trump’s director of national intelligence. Mr Coats appeared stunned on Thursday when he was informed, during a live television interview, that Mr Trump had invited Vladimir Putin to Washington. He replied: “Okaaaay... that’s going to be special.” White House officials accused Mr Coats of “going rogue,” undermining the president, and even laughing at him in public. Former intelligence officials rallied around Mr Coats, saying he was “speaking truth to power”.

Mr Trump has been under fire over his one-on-one meeting with Mr Putin, after which he appeared to side with the Russian denial of election meddling, against US intelligence agencies.

The US justice department announced yesterday that it would in future alert the public about foreign cyber operations.