Michael Cohen reportedly secretly recorded a conversation with Trump about payments made to a former Playboy model shortly before the 2016 election

Brendan McDermid/Reuters

Michael Cohen.

• Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former longtime lawyer, reportedly secretly recorded a conversation during which he and Trump discussed payments made to a former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, who says she had an affair with Trump.
• The conversation reportedly took place in September 2016, two months before the November election.
• Cohen is currently under investigation for bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign finance violations.
• Trump's potential knowledge of the payments raises new questions about his role in quashing negative stories about him ahead of the election.

Michael Cohen, President Donald Trump's former longtime lawyer, secretly recorded a conversation with Trump in September 2016 in which they discussed payments made to a former Playboy model who claims to have had an affair with the president, The New York Times reported Friday.

The report says that recording was among several that the FBI seized earlier this year when it carried out a raid on Cohen's properties in New York.

Cohen is currently the subject of a Manhattan US attorney's office investigation into whether he committed bank fraud, wire fraud, and campaign finance violations while working for Trump and leading up to the 2016 election.

The National Enquirer paid the former Playboy model, Karen McDougal, $150,000 in August 2016 for the rights to publish her story. The outlet never published the piece, and federal investigators are probing whether Cohen was involved in any efforts to quash damaging information about Trump ahead of the November 2016 presidential election.

Election law experts say that if Cohen engaged in such activity in order to protect Trump's candidacy, it would likely violate campaign finance law.

American Media, Inc. is the publishing company that owns The National Enquirer. David Pecker, the head of the company, is a longtime friend of both Trump and Cohen.

Cohen is also under scrutiny for a $130,000 payment he made to the porn star Stormy Daniels in late October 2016. Though Cohen initially denied the payment had anything to do with politics, Trump's personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani later indicated on national television that the story would have damaged Trump's chances at winning the election if it came out so soon before Election Day.

This story is developing. Check back for updates.