ANGRY TRUMP lashes out at his former attorney over recording.
He laments that tape about model ends as he was ‘saying positive things’
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump lashed out at his former personal lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen on Wednesday for releasing a recorded conversation between the two, asking on Twitter “what kind of lawyer would tape a client?”
Trump’s comments came the morning after Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Cohen, released a recording of a September 2016 phone call between Trump and Cohen that makes it appear that Trump was familiar with a deal that Playboy model Karen McDougal made to sell the rights to her story on an alleged affair with him.
“So sad! Is this a first, never heard of it before?” Trump wrote of the tapes, adding: “I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped - can this be so? Too bad!”
Trump also expressed concern that the recording had been terminated “while I was presumably saying positive things.”
He did not elaborate. Davis shared the recording with CNN on Tuesday night.
New York is a “one-party consent” state, meaning that in general it is legal to record a conversation as long as at least one party agrees, even if that person is the one doing the recording. In addition, Trump’s attorneys have not claimed that the recording is a privileged attorney-client conversation.
A transcript, provided by Trump’s legal team, shows that the then-GOP presidential nominee does not register confusion or surprise when Cohen refers to a plan to purchase the rights to McDougal’s story from American Media Inc., the parent company of the National Enquirer.
American Media, whose chief executive is David Pecker, signed a $150,000 deal with McDougal in August 2016 for her story but never published it.
On Tuesday night, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani disputed the idea that the recording shows that Trump knew about the McDougal deal.
Cohen, who once said that he was prepared to “take a bullet” and “do anything” to protect Trump, is under scrutiny from federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
The FBI raided Cohen’s office, home and hotel room in April, searching in part for information about payments to McDougal and porn actress Stormy Daniels, who says she had a sexual relationship with Trump in 2006 — which Trump denies — and was paid $130,000 as part of a non-disclosure agreement signed days before the 2016 election.
In recent weeks, Cohen, who has not been charged with any crimes, has shown increasing signs of a willingness to turn against Trump.
During an interview Wednesday on ABC’s Good Morning America, Davis said Cohen has “turned a corner.”
“He’s now dedicated to telling the truth to everyone, and we’ll have to see what happens,” Davis said.
On Saturday, Trump said in a tweet that it was “inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client,” adding: “The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!”