Trump tape a turning point in cat-and-mouse game
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The sudden public airing of Donald Trump talking about paying for a Playboy model’s silence marks a turning point in the legal game of catand-mouse between the president and the lawyer who once promised to take a bullet for him but now seems out to save himself.
The feud between Mr. Trump and his onetime legal “fixer,” Michael Cohen, escalated Wednesday when an audio recording of their 2016 pre-election conversation was released by Mr. Cohen, prompting Mr. Trump to tweet, “What kind of a lawyer would tape a client? So sad!”
As the two sides battled over the exact meaning of the sometimes-garbled words on the recording, it was clear that the tape could be just an opening volley. At least a dozen more recordings were seized from Mr. Cohen’s office as well as hundreds of thousands of documents.
The tape, made just weeks before the 2016 election, appears to undermine Mr. Trump’s contention that he was not aware of a payment to former Playboy Playmate Karen McDougal, who has alleged she had an affair with the married future president.
That raises questions about possible campaign finance violations. It shows Mr. Cohen advising Mr. Trump on campaign matters, and that could be of interest to investigators looking into whether the lawyer violated election laws by orchestrating hush money payouts.
Mr. Cohen says on the tape he’s already spoken with the Trump Organization’s finance chief, Allen Weisselberg, on “how to set the whole thing up.” Mr. Weisselberg’s involvement raises questions about whether Mr. Trump’s private business tried to protect his campaign.
Mr. Trump’s lawyers say the payments were never made.
In other matters involving the president Wednesday:
• A federal judge ruled that Maryland and the District of Columbia can proceed with their lawsuit accusing Mr. Trump of unconstitutionally accepting payments from foreign and state interests through his Washington hotel. The decision clears the way for the plaintiffs to seek financial records and other materials from the president’s company.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte, based in Maryland, rejected arguments from the Justice Department that earnings from business activities, including hotel room stays, do not qualify as unconstitutional gifts. At issue is the Constitution’s emoluments clause, which bans federal officials from accepting benefits from foreign or state governments without congressional approval. The plaintiffs argue Mr. Trump’s hotel harms area businesses because of the president’s ties.
• Mr. Trump’s company is planning a major expansion of one of its golf resorts in Britain that would include the construction and sale of 500 homes fetching as much as several million dollars each, raising possible conflict-of-interest issues as his administration faces tricky trade negotiationswith the country.
The Trump Organization says it submitted plans to local Scottish officials on Tuesday for permission to spend nearly $200 million building The Trump Estate, a residential community of 500 luxury cottages and mansions. Ethics lawyers have said that any expansion there requiring government approval raises the possibility Mr. Trump’s business could get special favors.
• In Los Angeles, a man who allegedly took a pickax to Mr. Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame early Wednesday was taken into custody, booked on suspicion of felony vandalism and is being held on $20,000 bail, authorities said. Since the 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump’s star has endured several publicized episodes of vandalism, including a spray-painted swastika and “mute” icon.
The tape’s revelations also mark a new chapter for Mr. Cohen who, as he mulls cooperating with federal prosecutors and perhaps special counsel Robert Mueller, is viewed by many in Mr. Trump’s orbit as the greatest threat to the former businessman’s presidency.
Mr. Cohen rose through the ranks of the Trump organization by mimicking his boss’ style in handling his personal and political problems. Now he and his own attorney, former Clinton lawyer Lanny Davis, are taking another page from the Trump playbook — fighting a legal battle in the court of public opinion.
With his apartment under construction after a pipe burst, Mr. Cohen has been holed up in a Midtown Manhattan hotel. From that luxurious bunker, he has grown increasingly concerned that his relationship with the president has fractured beyond repair, according to two people familiar with his views but not authorized to discussthem publicly.
Mr. Cohen, who would make bad stories disappear and travel the globe to make deals for the Trump Organization, now feels increasingly isolated and burned by the attacks against him by Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani and by the president’s efforts to play down his former fixer’s role.
And when the president’s legal team waived attorneyclient privilege, prompting Mr. Giuliani to declare that the tape was “exculpatory” for Mr. Trump, Mr. Cohen’s team moved to release it, believing it backed up his own version of events, the people said. The attorney told confidants that he was tired of being a punching bag and wanted to try to seize control of the story.
The meaning of the tape is up for debate.
Days before the recording, American Media Inc., which owns the National Enquirer, paid $150,000 to Ms. McDougal for the rights to her story about the alleged 2006 affair. She later sued, claiming that AMI paid for the story with the intention of burying it to protect Mr. Trump. AMI president David Pecker is a close friend of the president.