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Two months before the 2016 election, long-time Trump attorney Michael Cohen secretly recorded a conversation with GOP's presidential candidate about the purchase of rights on the record of Karen McDougal. The recording, which Cohen made surreptitiously at Trump Tower in early September 2016, was seized by federal agents who are investigating Cohen for possible banking and election law crimes, according to several people familiar with the probe.
Trump's discussion with Cohen took place a month after AMI, the parent company of the National Enquirer, had bought the rights to McDougal's story for $ 150,000, and then abandoned it. .
In the 90-second conversation, Cohen Trump would consider buying McDougal's claims rights to better "control" the story, according to people familiar with the deal. [19659005"Ithinkwehavetobringtheinternal"saysCohentoTrumpsaccordingtoapersonknowingtheregistration
In a statement Friday, President Trump's lawyer, Rudolph W. Giuliani, confirmed the existence of the registration. the payment was made. He said the conversation poses no legal danger for the president.
"Nothing in this conversation suggests that he had prior knowledge of [the AMI payment]," Giuliani said. "In the grand scheme of things, it's a powerful exculpatory evidence."
However, the record shows that Trump – whose spokesman denied having knowledge of the MAI deal with McDougal when he became public days before the elections – knew
The moment of The conversation between the GOP candidate and his longtime "fixer" also provides more evidence that Cohen was trying to crush embarrassing stories about Trump before the election. As part of their investigation, investigators searched for documents related to Cohen's interactions with AMI, as well as a cash payment from October 2016 that he arranged with an adult film. . Actress Stormy Daniels, who also claimed to have had sex with Trump.
To prosecute criminal charges against Cohen for violating the federal election law, prosecutors would have proof that payments went to women to influence the election, rather than personally protecting Trump.
Cohen, who served for a decade as a lawyer at the Trump organization, was known to sometimes record conversations with associates "(19659013) In the brief recording done in September 2016, Cohen can be heard telling Trump that AMI recently bought the rights to McDougal's account. He then proposed that Trump buys the rights to "control" the incendiary story, according to several people familiar with the exchange.
Two people familiar with the conversation Dit Cohen suggested that Trump buy the rights of AMI.
Trump is largely silent in conversation, people said, neither express surprise nor indicate he knew previo
He asks Cohen how they would continue to buy the rights. The two men discuss the opportunity to use a check, rather than money, which would create a record, according to people. A Trump advisor said Trump suggested using a check, while someone close to Cohen claimed that Cohen was the one who was advising this route.
The recording stops with Trump in the middle of the sentence, says one person, and picks up in the middle of a conversation that Cohen has with another person
The New York Times has to say. first reported the existence of the recording
It is unclear why Cohen and Trump have discussed how to buy the AMI story and have apparently not completed the transaction [19659016] The revelation of the recording of their conversation comes as Cohen said that he might be willing to cooperate with the investigation in his business affairs.
On Friday, Lanny Davis, a lawyer for Cohen, said in a statement: "Obviously, there is an ongoing investigation, and we are sensitive to that. registration is heard, it will not hurt Mr. Cohen. "
The recording was seized in April when FBI agents raided Cohen's residences and office, searching for documents related to McDougal and Cohen, among other documents
According to the investigation, Trump's lawyers, who review all the documents seized during the raids, did not claim that the recording was a lawyer-client conversation
The Wall Street Journal reported four days before the November 2016 election that McDougal was paid by the National Enquirer, while Trump campaign spokesperson Hope Hicks said McDougal's Allegations of "Totally False" [19659021] "We have no knowledge of all this," she said. she said that it was a 10-month affair that she had with Trump in 2006 and 2007.
The former Playboy model said that after his first sexual encounter, Trump tried to offer him money. She said that she refused the offer and that she started a relationship that included interactions between the two "several dozen times."
In August 2016, AMI paid McDougal $ 150,000 for the right to his story but never published an article about him. As part of the deal, McDougal signed a non-disclosure agreement that prevented him from revealing the case.
She filed a lawsuit against AMI this year seeking to regain rights over her history and settled with the company in April. her lawsuit against AMI, McDougal said that she was happy when AMI bought her story and then did not publish it, because she was not anxious for advertising. But she said her opinion changed this year when she learned new details about the case, including that her lawyer at the time and AMI had both been in contact with Cohen during the negotiation of his contract
. She wrote on Twitter that she "was learning this in real time just like everyone else."
Peter Stris, a lawyer who negotiated McDougal's settlement with AMI earlier this year, tweeted, "When @ RealDonaldTrump said we lie, do you think it meant we were not?
Josh Dawsey, Tom Hamburger and Beth Reinhard contributed to this report
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