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The break seems to have been consummated between Donald Trump and his former personal attorney: the US president on Saturday ruled "perhaps illegal" a recording by Michael Cohen of a conversation between the two men.
immediately attracted a scathing response from the entourage of his former henchman.
These tensions between Michael Cohen and Donald Trump intervene while the lawyer, at the center of a vast federal inquiry, recently announced that his loyalty had limits. The time when he said he was ready to "take a bullet" to protect the President of the United States seems to be over.
The existence of the recording in the heart of the new controversy, which dates back two months before the presidential election of November 2016 and was seized by FBI investigators in the offices of the lawyer, was revealed Friday by the New York Times. Donald Trump and Michael Cohen mention the possibility of buying the silence of an ex-playmate with which the president would have had an affair.
In the aftermath of this revelation, Donald Trump attacked Saturday on Twitter to his old council. It is "inconceivable that a lawyer registers a client – totally new and possibly illegal", he denounced.
Despite this, the team of the president has waived the principle of confidentiality of exchanges between the client and his counsel in this case, according to CNN, which quotes anonymous sources. In other words, it will not oppose the use of registration by investigators.
The strategy of Donald Trump is clear: the real estate mogul wants to show that he has nothing to reproach
"The good news is that your favorite President did nothing wrong!" exclaimed the Republican billionaire to conclude his tweet.
The day before, one of his Rudy Giuliani, had confirmed the existence of this recording, believing that he exonerated Donald Trump more than he compromised.
"Rudy believes that the recording + exonerates +" the president, "why so much anger ? ", responded Michael Cohen's lawyer, Lanny Davis, on Twitter on Twitter, twirling the strategy of the presidential camp and calling the accusation of illegal registration" false ".
The immortalized Trump-Cohen discussion on this audiotape was about Playboy magazine's ex-playmate Karen McDougal, who claims to have had a "ten-month romantic relationship in 2006 and 2007" with the one who was not yet entered politics
– "Violations of campaign financing" –
According to the New York Times, Michael Cohen was reportedly consulted by the press owner David Pecker about the testimony of Karen McDougal. The National Enquirer, the flagship title of David Pecker's group, had indeed agreed to buy the exclusivity of this confession for 150,000 dollars.
According to several media, during the recorded conversation, Michael Cohen informs Donald Trump of the payment made by the press group and the two men mention the possibility of buying back these rights themselves. Donald Trump seems open to the idea and even questions his lawyer about the method of payment. The recording stops before the end of the conversation.
The transaction never finally took place. The New Yorker magazine stated, based on anonymous testimonies, that Mr. Pecker and the National Enquirer chose not to publish Karen McDougal's testimony to preserve Donald Trump, a friend of David Pecker, which is denied.
On the basis of the known elements of the conversation revealed on Friday, it appears that the registration does not, in itself, pose a legal risk to Donald Trump, since the payment was never made. [19659002] But Michael Avenatti, the lawyer of the badgraphic actress Stormy Daniels engaged in a legal battle with the president, estimated on the MSNBC channel that it "could constitute a proof of violations of the campaign financing" if the candidate Trump knew that Michael Cohen or others would make payments on his behalf "to influence the election of 2016."
Michael Cohen is currently the subject of a large FBI investigation, which could lead to on lawsuits. In particular, he publicly acknowledged that he paid Stormy Daniels $ 130,000 in November 2016 to buy his silence about a badual relationship she would have had with the future president in 2006.
Michael Avenatti also badured that several other Trump-Cohen discussions had been recorded, requesting that all audio tapes be made public.
Contrary to what the US President suggests about their legality, the law seems to be in the direction of Michael Cohen. It is legal, in New York State, for an individual to record a discussion, "as long as a party to the conversation consents to the recording," reports John B. Harris, who writes for the trade publication New York Legal Ethics Reporter
"Knowing if and when a New York lawyer can, ethically, register without warning upstream" his client "remains obscure," continues however this jurist.
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