Legal implications unclear on secret tape
WASHINGTON — A secret recording of Donald Trump discussing payments to a Playboy model has brought renewed attention to the question of whether and how he might have tried to block politically damaging stories ahead of the 2016 presidential election. But it’s not clear the tape, on its own, creates additional legal problems for the president.
The September 2016 conversation between Trump and his then-lawyer, Michael Cohen, took place weeks after the National Enquirer’s parent company reached a $150,000 deal to pay former Playboy model Karen McDougal for her story of a 2006 affair she said she had with Trump. The recording captures Trump and Cohen discussing acquiring the rights to McDougal’s story and whether to pay by cash or check.
At issue is whether the transaction the men are discussing was campaignrelated, in which case any payment would likely be regarded as a political contribution, or whether it was merely meant to shield the married Trump from a personally embarrassing revelation.
That distinction matters in analyzing the transaction between McDougal and the Enquirer’s parent company, American Media Inc., as well as any subsequent conversations about it between Trump and Cohen: A campaign contribution meant to influence the outcome of an election would be subject to campaign finance laws in a way that a payment for purely personal reasons might not be.
“It’s a piece of evidence. It’s not a smoking gun,” Rick Hasen, a campaign finance law expert at the University of California, Irvine, said of the recording. “It’s relevant to the investigation, and it’s relevant to considering whether Trump or Cohen or AMI committed campaign finance violations, but on its own, it does not constitute proof of any violation.”
He added, “It does not establish either a motive to spend illegal or unreported money in violation of the campaign finance laws, and it doesn’t establish that any money was actually paid for this purpose.”
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani has said the conversation wasn’t campaignrelated and that Trump and Cohen didn’t make a payment to buy the rights.