New York Daily News

Feds have dozen more Don tapes

- BY STEPHEN REX BROWN

Lordy, there are more tapes!

A new report by the retired judge overseeing the review of documents seized by the FBI from President Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen reveals that a dozen audio files are fair game for prosecutor­s.

The letter filed Monday by Barbara Jones, the former Manhattan Federal Court judge scrutinizi­ng Cohen’s documents for attorney-client privilege, showed that Cohen, Trump and the Trump Organizati­on had waived privilege claims to “12 audio items.”

The update came three days after The New York Times revealed that the FBI had seized a recording of Trump and Cohen discussing a payment to silence ex-Playboy model Karen McDougal, who claims she had an affair with the soon-to-be President. The conversati­on took place two months before the 2016 election.

Cohen is being investigat­ed for campaign finance violations, as well as wire fraud and bank fraud charges.

Over the weekend, several outlets reported that Trump’s legal team had waived a privilege claim regarding Trump’s conversati­on with Cohen about McDougal. Trump’s attorney, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, said that the call was “exculpator­y” for the President.

The letter from Jones reveals that Trump’s team waived privilege claims for a dozen other audio files the same day, The Times reported on the McDougal conversati­on. The new letter from Jones greatly expands the number of recorded conversati­ons being examined by federal prosecutor­s.

“Latest news @MichaelCoh­en212 tapes of conversati­ons are being released by @realDonald­Trump & his legal team who own and waived the privilege. Will @RudyGiulia­ni call these tapes “exculpator­y” again? As I noted before, the tapes will speak for themselves – spin can’t change facts,” Cohen’s attorney Lanny Davis wrote on Twitter.

Jones wrote that her review is ongoing.

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