'What kind of lawyer would tape a client?': Trump responds to release of tape discussing payments with Cohen
- President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to criticize his former attorney Michael Cohen for taping their conversations after Cohen's attorney publicly released the tape on Tuesday night.
- Cohen's attorney released the audio of a secretly recorded, 2016 conversation between Cohen and Trump, during which the two men discussed payments to a former Playboy model who claimed she had a sexual relationship with Trump years earlier.
President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday morning to criticize his former attorney Michael Cohen for taping their conversations after Cohen's attorney publicly released a tape on Tuesday night.
"What kind of a lawyer would tape a client?", Trump tweeted. "So sad! Is this a first, never heard of it before? Why was the tape so abruptly terminated (cut) while I was presumably saying positive things? I hear there are other clients and many reporters that are taped - can this be so? Too bad!"
Cohen's attorney, Lanny Davis, released the audio of a 2016 conversation between Cohen and Trump. The two men can be heard discussing numerous issues on the recording, but eventually they focus on McDougal, who had agreed to give her story to the National Enquirer in exchange for $150,000. The publication's parent company, American Media Inc., is led by David Pecker, a friend of Cohen and Trump. The Enquirer never ran McDougal's story.
The existence of the audio recording was first revealed last week, but the audio was heard publicly for the first time on CNN Tuesday night.
After the existence of the tape was revealed, Trump took to Twitter to respond as well.
"Inconceivable that the government would break into a lawyer's office (early in the morning) - almost unheard of," Trump tweeted on Saturday. "Even more inconceivable that a lawyer would tape a client - totally unheard of & perhaps illegal. The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!"
"So, what do you we got to pay for this, one-fifty," Trump asks, according to a transcript of the tape published by The Washington Post.
"Funding ... Yes. Um, and it's all the stuff," Cohen responds.
At one point, Cohen lays out how they should finance the payment, saying he would set up a company, now known as Essential Consultants LLC - to get the deal done.
Trump then appears to interject. The presidential candidate can be heard saying "pay with cash," to which Cohen says, "No, I got it," before Trump says, "Check."
The recording ends abruptly at that point.
Bryan Logan contributed to this post.