Hush money tape revelation

Lawyer recorded Trump talking about paying for Playboy model’s story

Lawyer recorded Trump talking about paying for Playboy model’s story.

NEW YORK: President Donald Trump’s former personal lawyer secretly recorded Trump discussing a potential payment for a former Playboy model’s account of having an affair with him, people familiar with an investigation into the attorney said.

The recording by attorney Michael Cohen adds to questions about whether Trump tried to quash damaging stories in the runup to his 2016 election.

Trump’s campaign had said it knew nothing about any payment to ex-centrefold Karen McDougal.

It could also further entangle the president in a criminal investigation that for months has targeted Cohen.

Current Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani said the payment was never made and the brief recording shows Trump did nothing wrong.

“The transaction that Michael is talking about on the tape never took place, but what’s important is: If it did take place, the president said it has to be done correctly and it has to be done by check” to keep a proper record of it, Giuliani said.

One of Cohen’s lawyers, Lanny Davis, said “any attempt at a spin cannot change what is on the tape”.

“When the recording is heard, it will not hurt Cohen,” Davis said in a statement.

Cohen surreptitiously made the recording two months before the election, according to a person familiar with a federal investigation into Cohen.

The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing inquiry.

The conversation between Trump and Cohen came weeks after the National Enquirer’s parent company reached a US$150,000 deal to pay McDougal for her story of a 2006 affair, which it never published, a tabloid practice known as “catch and kill”.

Trump denies the affair ever happened. The company, American Media Inc, is run by Trump’s friend and supporter David Pecker.

The company’s payment effectively silenced McDougal through the election, though days beforehand news of the deal emerged in

The Wall Street Journal.

At the time, a Trump spokesman said his campaign had “no knowledge of any of this”.

But in the recorded conversation, Trump and Cohen appear to be discussing buying the rights to McDougal’s story from the

Enquirer’s parent company.

McDougal’s lawyer and an American Media spokesman didn’t immediately respond to messages seeking comment on Friday.

The recording, first reported by The New York Times, likely will revive questions about what other recordings of Trump’s conversations might exist.

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 received a US$130,000 payment from Cohen before the election to keep quiet about a sexual relationship she says she had with Trump.

Meanwhile, a government watchdog group has asked the Department of Justice and the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether American Media’s payment to the former centrefold amounted to an unreported and illegal corporate campaign contribution. — AP