FBI has recording of Trump discussing control of affair story
Giuliani confirms existence of audio made by attorney Cohen, calls it ‘exculpatory’
WASHINGTON — Two months before the 2016 election, longtime Donald Trump attorney Michael Cohen secretly taped a conversation with the then-GOP presidential nominee about whether to purchase the rights to
Playboy centerfold Karen McDougal’s account of her alleged extramarital affair with Trump, according to three people familiar with the conversation.
The recording, which Cohen made surreptitiously in Trump Tower in early September 2016, was seized by federal agents who are investigating Cohen for potential bank and election-law crimes, according to multiple people familiar with the probe.
Trump and Cohen’s discussion came a month after AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, bought the rights to McDougal’s story for $150,000, then shelved it.
In the 90-second conversation, Cohen can be heard urging Trump to consider buying the rights to McDougal’s claims to better “control” the story, according to people familiar with the exchange.
“I think we need to bring this in-house,” Cohen tells Trump, according to one person with knowledge of the recording.
In a statement Friday, President Trump’s attorney Rudy Giuliani confirmed the recording’s existence and said no payment was ever made. He said the conversation does not pose any legal jeopardy for the president.
“Nothing in that conversation suggests that he had any knowledge of [the AMI payment] in advance,” Giuliani said. “In the big scheme of things, it’s powerful exculpatory evidence.”
However, the recording shows that Trump — whose spokeswoman denied he had any knowledge of the AMI deal with McDougal when it became public days before the election — in fact knew of her claims and efforts to keep her quiet at least two months earlier.
The timing of the conversation between the GOP nominee and his longtime “fixer” also provides more evidence that Cohen was trying to squash embarrassing stories about Trump before the election — a major focus of the investigation by federal prosecutors in Manhattan.
As part of their probe, investigators have sought documents related to Cohen’s interactions with AMI, as well as to an OctoSingleton ber 2016 hush-money payment he arranged with adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, who also claimed to have had a sexual encounter with Trump.
To pursue criminal charges against Cohen for breaking federal election law, prosecutors would have to have evidence that the payments went to the women to influence the election, rather than just to protect Trump personally.
Cohen, who served for a decade as a lawyer at the Trump Organization, was known to sometimes record conversations with associates, store them digitally and then replay them for colleagues, as the Washington Post reported in April.
In the brief recording made in September 2016, Cohen can be heard telling Trump that AMI had recently purchased the rights to McDougal’s account of a 10-month affair that allegedly took place soon after he married Melania.
Cohen then proposed that Trump buy the rights to “control” the inflammatory story, according to multiple people familiar with the exchange.
Two people familiar with the conversation said Cohen was suggesting Trump buy the rights from AMI.
Trump is largely silent in the conversation, the people said, neither expressing surprise nor indicating whether he knew previously about the AMI deal.
He asks Cohen how they would pursue buying the rights. The two men discuss whether to use a check, rather than cash, which would create a record, according to the people. A Trump adviser said Trump suggested using a check, while a person close to Cohen claimed Cohen was the one who advised that route. The recording cuts off with Trump mid-sentence, one person said.
The New York Times first reported the existence of the recording.